


Unfathomable

by Cold_Silence



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Dubious Consent, Multi, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 09:00:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 86,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23848585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cold_Silence/pseuds/Cold_Silence
Summary: A story about the spoiled prince of Atlantica, and a very unfortunate human.
Relationships: Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 86
Kudos: 112





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> **Author:** Cold Silence  
>   
>  **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
>   
>  **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi  
>   
>  **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Dubious Consent, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as beastiality?  
>   
>  **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
>   
> 

**Unfathomable**  
  
- _Chapter One-_

Hundreds of fathoms below the sea, deep in the heart of the vast ocean, there exists the sprawling kingdom of Atlantica. Hidden away from sunlight and nestled among the walls of the abyss, it is a mythical place ruled by a sentient species of half-human, half-fish. They are known as the mer, and their existence was virtually unknown to the inhabitants of the surface world, except in fairytales and local lore.  
  
  
The mer lived peacefully in their world, and only occasionally had to defend Atlantica from natural enemies or outside kingdoms that wished to gain power and territory. Their monarch, King Triton, was a strong merman who protected his people fiercely. Without the king, Atlantica would be nothing more than an empty shell, for Triton was the only one who could wield the source of their world’s power: the Trident.  
  
  
It was feared that when King Triton passed away, there would be no one to control the Trident and protect the mer people. That fear, however, became alleviated with the birth of the king’s first son. After fifteen beautiful daughters, Triton had finally sired a male. This was an extraordinary event; male mers are extremely rare and considered to be a sign of good tidings. Males of the royal bloodline also had the capacity to control the Trident, which was a relief to the entire kingdom.  
  
  


The mer rejoiced at the announcement that there was now a prince among them. He was named Riku, and he was an exquisite creature, even by the standards of his own people. Most mers were born with vibrantly colored tails and hair, but the prince was blessed with pearlescent scales and translucent fins that mirrored any light that was cast upon them. His hair was as light as the purest white sand, and his eyes were oceanic mirrors that shifted through blues and greens like the water around him. Riku always stood out from his sisters because of his unusual coloring. When he swam among the glowing spires of the of his castle home, he appeared as if he were the source of all light itself.  
  
  
As a result of his royalty and uncanny beauty, Riku was adored and very spoiled. His needs and desires were granted immediately without question, and he was always the center of attention. King Triton foolishly relaxed the rules for his son, allowing him free reign that had not been granted to his sisters. What Riku lacked in discipline became a deep, insatiable hunger for worldly possessions. His heart grew selfish, and within the first few cycles of his life, he realized that there were not enough treasures in the kingdom to fill the void inside of him.  
  
  
This led to behaviors that were unbecoming of a prince. Riku broke the rules solely for the entertainment that it would bring him, and he lived for the thrill of escaping punishment. He became crafty; he deceived his family and subjects into believing that he was the very model of what royalty should be while performing devious acts in the shadows. It was his personal goal to break every rule at least once.  
  
  
That was why he decided to explore beyond the safe boundaries of Atlantica. There was a strict rule that mers were to never rise beyond the light of their kingdom, however Riku’s youthful brazenness compelled him to disobey his father’s wishes. When he was a mere four feet in length from head to fins, he plotted to find out for himself what waited in the unknown.  
  
  
Riku bided his time and gathered his courage before committing this terrible act. The power of his father’s Trident ensured that Atlantica was always illuminated, but beyond the castle spires the ocean was dark and foreboding. Stories of terrible creatures lurking outside of their safe kingdom prevented most mers from venturing to the world above. Riku, on the other hand, felt that he was entitled to know about the things that waited in the darkness. After all, he was a prince, and was therefore obligated to know the mysteries of the ocean by birthright.  
  
  
The young mer made his move when he was sure that no one would know of his true whereabouts. He told the castle servants that he would be playing among the anemones with other younglings that were his age, and he made certain that everyone saw him leaving in that general direction. However, as soon as he was alone with no one to detect him, he diverted towards the darkness above him and swam directly towards it.  
  
  
His courage faltered when the brilliance of his scales dimmed with the distance from the light of Atlantica. Riku’s fast swim momentarily stalled with fear, but the thought of admitting that he was a coward galled him enough to push onwards and upwards. A boring palace life was waiting for him below and a new adventure waited for him above. He was not going to give up after coming so far. So he kept on, and after traveling some distance, the water around him grew brighter. Shafts of light penetrated down to the place that he swam, causing his scales to reflect a gentle gold. It was different from the glow of Atlantica, and Riku made a slow turn just to watch how the light played on his sinewy body.  
  
  
Was this the power of the Trident, or something else? Instead of fear, Riku was filled with excitement. Already, he had discovered something new and wonderful: Light beyond the fearful darkness. It made all the stories of terrible monsters seem like utter foolishness. Emboldened by those thoughts, Riku swam even higher.  
  
  
The light seemed to stretch on forever above him, and it moved with the currents. There were fish zipping by, and in the distance he could see that there was an end to the deep chasm that he had risen from. It formed a sandy shelf that stretched towards an unknown destination. Riku decided to follow where it led, smiling as he confirmed that the world away from his kingdom was also teeming with life.  
  
  
As he continued to swim, the shelf rose higher and higher, until Riku realized that he was nearing something that he had never seen before in his life: an end to the water. All mers had heard the legends of the water’s boundaries and few believed that the sea was not infinite. Now, faced with the reality of the ocean’s limits, Riku could barely move out of paralyzing excitement and fear. Whatever lied beyond the sparkling, moving mirror above could either lead to oblivion, or a whole new world.  
  
  
In the end, Riku’s insatiable curiosity won out. Cautiously, he flicked his fins to rise higher and stretched out one of his hands. His palm broke the surface and he felt wind against his skin for the first time. The new sensation made him quickly retract his arm. Riku clenched his fingers against his chest and waited several moments, expecting the worst to happen. When nothing did, he slowly lifted his hand again, and then the rest of him followed.  
  
  
He emerged into a whole other world. There was light everywhere, and something hot and bright burned high above him. His hair stuck to his face instead of floating, and the gill flaps at his neck fluttered to desperately filter water that was no longer there. Riku found that he had to rely on the reservoir of water in his tail in order to continue breathing. The ocean was more forceful at the surface; it pushed, shoved and crested as if it was in a rush to get somewhere.  
  
  
Animals that Riku had never seen before were swimming in an endless blue expanse above him and squawking in a strange language that he didn’t understand. The prince tried to approach them, but he found that he was firmly anchored to the ocean. This new heaviness that kept him from rising with the other creatures was frustrating. Riku attempted to call the animals down to him instead, but found that he was steadfastly ignored by the creatures. Annoyed, Riku decided to move on and explore something else.  
  
  
In the distance, he could see the sand rising out of the water and enormous green plants stretching upwards towards the light. He swam in that direction, and upon getting closer, he spied an entirely different sort of creature. There were strange, tailless beings roaming about. From the waist up, they could have passed as any ordinary mer, but instead of tails they had strange appendages that allowed them to move outside of the water. The closest thing that Riku could compare it to was the way that crabs moved along the seafloor.  
  
  
It was shocking to find a species that was so similar to his own and yet completely different. Riku decided that it was prudent not to be seen by them since there were many of those creatures in much larger sizes than his own. He ducked beneath the safety of the water and carefully resumed his explorations. Everywhere he looked; there was something new to see. Shiny objects, new creatures, sloping terrain; it was all different than the world that he was used to.  
  
  
However, those strange beings had piqued his curiosity. Against his better judgment, Riku swam as close to them as he could without being seen. The mer found that the best place to hide was in the shadows of a strange structure that stretched out over the shoreline. There were several finless beings there tossing shiny things into the water and gathering them back up. Riku didn’t know what they were doing, but what they were throwing looked sharp.  
  
  
He watched their strange behavior for a while and wondered at the significance of it. Just when he was starting to form an idea, something new plopped into the water: a hand. It had five fingers with blunted claws, and it was roughly sized as big as Riku’s own hand. Unable to help himself, the prince reached out to touch it.  
  
  
The moment that Riku felt the skin of the creature, the hand was quickly snatched back to the surface. Obviously, the mer had startled it. The prince retreated away from the overhang that the hand had come from, but kept his head above water so that he could listen to what the creatures were saying.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


“Something touched me!” exclaimed Sora. He went over to his father and showed him his hand, as if that would somehow add credence to his story.  
  
  
“You probably touched a fish,” answered his dad. He barely spared his son a glance as he continued to reel in his fishing line. “You won’t catch any with your hands you know. You need a hook.”  
  
  
“I don’t like fishing, it hurts the fish when they’re caught,” said Sora petulantly.  
  
  
“Sora, if we all had a bleeding heart like yours, then we’d never have anything to eat,” lamented his father. “If you’re not going to fish, then go back to the beach. This dock is already crowded.”  
  
  
Sora pouted at his dad, but he started walking towards the beach. His footsteps thumped hollowly on the wooden planks beneath his feet.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku had no idea what the creatures were saying. He could hear the noises they made but did not understand them. Thankfully, they didn’t sound alarmed, so it was unlikely that they would discover his presence. The one that he had touched was now scampering off, so he dived underwater and swam along the shallows to try to keep up with him.  


  
  
Riku resurfaced when he found an outcropping of rocks to hide him from view. Then he searched the shoreline until he could spy the one that he was following. It was a youngling, judging by its size. Unlike the brightly colored mers, the creature had brown, dry hair and skin that was several tones darker than Riku. The youngling’s eyes, however, were as bright as the untouchable blue ocean that currently hung above the prince’s head.  
  
  
The mer was drawn to this particular creature because they were about the same size in length. Riku was still a youngling himself and he was naturally attracted to others that were about his age. Questions swirled in his mind as he observed the finless being’s actions. Was it male or female? What did it eat? Did it have a name? Does it play like the young mers from the ocean?  
  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by the clicking of a nearby animal. Riku whirled around, and his eyes went wide at the creatures that were approaching him.  
  
  
“Do my eyes deceive me?” clicked a circling dolphin. “It’s a mer! And a youngling at that! I have not heard of them surfacing for thousands of cycles.”  
  
  
“What are you?” demanded Riku. Unlike the language of the finless creatures, he could understand these strange fish. The mer clawed his hands, prepared to defend himself if these new interlopers decided to use him as food. “Stay back, I’ll fight you!”  
  
  
“Sweet kelp, haven’t you ever seen a dolphin before?” clicked a second dolphin. “What is King Triton teaching nowadays? Come now, we do not eat mers. We prefer the small fish. Sometimes a squid if the tides are not in our favor.”  
  
  
“Don’t you talk down about my father,” warned Riku. His gills flared to emit a soft hiss. “He will use his Trident to turn you all into guppies.”  
  
  
“Your father? King Triton?” returned the dolphin with an incredulous click. “Why that would make you a prince! Why would a prince of mers be swimming at the surface? You best be on your way to the palace before you are caught on a fish-eater's hook.”  
  
  
“I can do anything I want,” sang Riku with a puff of his chest and a flare of his fins. “If you can be here at the surface, then why can’t I?”  
  
  
“Youngling, we have no choice but to live here at the boundary of the ocean world. We are air breathers,” the dolphin admonished. “Prince or not, you are truly lacking in worldly knowledge.”  
  
  
Riku felt embarrassed at the fact that these dolphins seemed to know more than he did. He hated to be one-upped by anyone, especially fish that he considered to be beneath him. “Then you will tell me about the surface world. By order of the royal prince,” he demanded.  
  
  
The dolphins laughed at Riku. Their peals resonated in the water and their swimming became more excited. “Did you hear that? By order of the prince!”  
  
  
“I think that the first thing that we should teach the prince is some manners,” answered the other dolphin coyly.  
  
  
Both dolphins lined up in front of Riku and beat their tails at him. This caused a strong rush of current that made the prince flip upside down. They laughed as they swam away while Riku struggled to upright himself.  
  
  
“Wait!” Riku sang after them. “I want to know more!”  
  
  
Unfortunately, the dolphins were too far away to hear him. Riku grit his teeth, and then he swam to the surface again. The finless being that he had been watching was walking off with two full grown ones. He guessed that those were the youngling’s sires. They vanished into the distance, and Riku felt himself fill with disappointment.  
  
  
Eventually, Riku swam home, but that was not the last time that he visited the surface world. He returned many times in secret to continue his explorations. The dolphins were always there to tease him, but every now and then they would give him bits of knowledge about the world above the water. Riku learned about air, the sun, and the countless creatures that lived outside of the ocean. The dolphins told him about humans and how they ventured out into the water on the husks of what must have been great beasts.  
  
  
The more that Riku learned, the more that he wanted to know. He began to see the surface world as his own personal playground, one that belonged to him and no one else. Although the dolphins were a nuisance, he tolerated them since they occasionally educated him on things that he could never ask his father.  
  
  
He became an avid collector of human things. Riku would gather trinkets and hide them in a watery cave that he found along the beach. The prince also followed the humans in secret. The youngling that he had touched continued to interest him, and one day he tailed him to a distant part of the beach. There, he found several enormous beasts floating in the water. Upon spotting them, Riku hugged close to the underwater sand to prevent any of them from seeing him.  
  
  
“Silly mer, are you afraid of the boats?” clicked a passing dolphin. This one was called Splash by the members of her pod.  
  
  
Riku gave the dolphin a dour look. “Aren’t you afraid that it will eat you?” he asked.  
  
  
“Of course not!” answered Splash. “Boats do not have life. They are another creation of the humans, just like those things that you collect. Humans ride them when they are tired of swimming.”  
  
  
“They ride those things?” sang Riku in awe. Then realization struck him. “That youngling came here. He must be going to ride a boat!” Riku flicked his fins and darted through the water, rushing to the surface so that he could see the wonder of humans riding a boat. Once he broke the water’s surface, he shoved his hair from his eyes and searched for the small human he had been following. Sure enough, he witnessed him climbing into one of the boats, just as the dolphin said.  
  
  
“Are you this excited already?” clicked Splash with amusement. “We haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.”  
  
  
Riku didn’t know what the dolphin was talking about, but he soon found out. The boat that the youngling had entered emitted a loud rumble, and then it moved towards the ocean waters. Several dolphins began to gather behind the moving vessel, all of them clicking and singing excitedly.  
  
  
“Hurry Riku, or you will miss it!” exclaimed Splash. The dolphin began swimming at a breakneck pace to catch up with the departing boat. “Swim as fast as you can!”  
  
  
Riku didn’t know what was going on and he was too curious to stay behind. So he beat his tail and easily caught up with the school of dolphins that were chasing the boat. At first, he didn’t understand what was going on, but the answer soon became clear: the dolphins angled themselves towards the surface and rode the currents caused by the boat upwards until they shot into the air like silver bullets. Their peals of joy echoed in the water.  
  
  
It looked dangerous and wild, and Riku couldn’t wait to try it. He had never felt a current like this before, it hit him like a brick wall the closer that he got to the ship. If he angled himself the wrong way, it would rip at his scales like a sharp claw. However, when he pointed himself diagonally towards the surface, the currents rolled under his stomach and tail and shot him into the sky.  
  
  
Riku broke through the surface in a flash of silver and disappeared in the wake of the boat just as quickly. His gills flapped open as he breathed wildly out of exhilaration. Again, he pushed against the wall of the ship, and soon he was surfing the waves as expertly as the dolphins around him.  
  
  
“What do you know, Riku may be half dolphin after all,” laughed Splash.  
  
  
“I bet I can jump higher than you!” challenged Riku.  
  
  
“You’re on!” answered Splash.  
  
  
Their game of leaping through the wake waters of the moving ship continued far into the ocean. The beach became a distant speck in the horizon, and the water churned in a way that Riku was more familiar with. Eventually, the boat came to a stop, and the dolphins dispersed so that they could search the area for food.  
  
  
Riku was tired after all of that swimming, so he floated lazily beneath the boat. He wondered why the humans would come so far out into the ocean and what that youngling was doing right now. Riku would have liked to surface and see for himself, but it had been dangerous enough to risk being seen while he was fooling around with the dolphins.  
  
  
Just when Riku was about to doze off; he heard something odd. A ghostly voice permeated the water, singing “here, here” at regular intervals. Riku spun around to see if he could determine the source, and to his surprise, it seemed to be coming from the boat. Slowly, he began to swim towards it in an attempt to find the source of the strange song.  
  
  
“Where are you going Riku?” asked Splash. She had been foraging nearby until she noticed Riku’s movement towards the ship. Although the dolphins spent a lot of time teasing the young mer, they also kept an eye on him as if he was one of their pod, even if the youngling was too proud to admit that he needed protection.  
  
  
“Don’t you hear that?” questioned Riku. “A voice, calling ‘here.’ It’s coming from the boat.”  
  
  
“Ah yes, the voice,” clicked the dolphin sagely. “The humans come here and call to us from their boat, but we dare not answer.”  
  
  
“Why not?” asked Riku. “If they are trying to talk to us, then we should talk back to them.”  
  
  
“They are not a part of our world, Riku,” clicked Splash somberly. “In their ignorance, they dirty our water and trap our kind when they hunt. Many pods have suffered loss at the hands of the humans.”  
  
  
“Maybe they don’t mean to do it,” sang Riku. He didn’t want to believe that beings that could create such wonderful things were evil. “If we just talked to them, maybe they’d change their ways.”  
  
  
“Riku, you once said that your father spoke of monsters in the darkness. That is why none of the other mers have risen to the surface world. The truth is, the humans are the monsters in the darkness. Heed my warning that no good will come of it,” warned Splash.  
  
  
“I don’t believe it,” clicked Riku stubbornly. “Those were all just lies to keep us from seeing the surface world. If humans are so bad, then why do you know so much about them?”  
  
  
“I have been alive for many cycles, and I have swam alongside many boats in that time. I have even let humans touch me,” answered Splash. “Of course, I was young and stubborn back then, just like you.”  
  
  
Riku looked at Splash in awe. “What was it like when a human touched you?”  
  
  
“I think that he was as curious about me as I was as of him,” clicked Splash with amusement. “He would not stop saying, mother mother, I touched a dolphin.”  
  
  
“You can understand them?” sang Riku with disbelief. “How is that possible?”  
  
  
“When you live close to the border of our world, you learn many things. Perhaps in time, you will learn to understand what they say as well, Riku,” clicked Splash.  
  
  
It was this conversation that prompted Riku to decide that he wanted to meet a human and see for himself what they were like. He chose the human youngling to speak to since they were similar in length and therefore more equal.  
  
  
Several cycles passed before he found a good opportunity to approach the human without arousing the suspicion of the others. His chance came on a day when the sun was setting below the horizon. The human was searching the shoreline for a bright, round object, something that the dolphins called a ball. It was a human toy, and Riku had witnessed it being spirited away by the ocean’s waves. When the youngling finally spied it bobbing far from the shoreline, he rushed into the waters to chase it.  
  
  
Riku knew that the human would not be able to swim fast enough to catch the ball. He had watched the youngling play in the shallows before, and he knew that he lacked the skill to swim against strong currents in deep waters. So he took it upon himself to swim to the toy and fetch it. The prince surfaced to reveal himself, but chose to keep his tail hidden in the darkening waters. He carefully swam back to where the youngling was and offered to return the ball.  
  
  
The response from the human was immediate. He curled his arms around the toy and gave Riku a bright smile. “Thank you, I thought I was going to lose it forever. It’s my favorite ball,” he said to the mer.  
  
  
Sadly, the prince could not understand what the human was saying. He could only surmise from the tone of the youngling’s voice that he was being thanked. The mer answered primly, “You would have caught up with it if you were a better swimmer, or if you at least had a tail.”  
  
  
The human gave Riku an odd look. He heard a series of clicks and swooping noises come from the mer’s mouth, none of which he could understand. “What language is that?” he questioned curiously. “You sound like a dolphin.”  
  
  
Riku felt himself growing frustrated at the situation. It annoyed him that the dolphins could understand human speech, but he could not. He pressed on, convinced that if only he kept speaking to the youngling then he would be understood. “My name is Prince Riku of Atlantica. I have watched you and your people for many cycles. You should be honored to be speaking to me.”  
  
  
The human squinted his eyes at Riku, obviously not comprehending a thing. He answered awkwardly, “I’m really sorry, I don’t understand you. Thank you for giving me my ball, I owe you one.” An uncomfortable smile accompanied those words, and then the human begin swimming back to the shoreline with his toy.  
  
  
Riku’s frustration quickly turned into annoyance. Why was this human swimming away from him? He was being addressed by the one and only prince of Atlantica. The mer called after the youngling in a sneer, “Do all humans have the brains of seaweeds, or just you? I wasn’t done talking to you!”  
  
  
Unfortunately, Sora could not answer. He was suddenly sucked down into a rip tide, causing him to go into a panic. The ball escaped his grasp as he flailed his arms and legs in an attempt to claw his way back to the surface, to no avail.  
  
  
Riku did not understand the purpose of the youngling’s actions. He swam underwear to where the human was spinning aimlessly and sang with amusement, “You call that swimming? No wonder you humans live on the surface; I’ve seen sponges turn water better than you.”  
  
  
A superior look colored Riku’s face as he watched the youngling flounder. Bubbles spilled from the human’s mouth, and over time, his thrashing grew weak. “Giving up already?” taunted the mer as he swam circles around the human. It was at that point that the youngling’s body became completely lax and hung in the water like dead seaweed. Riku poked the human, and became alarmed at the complete lack of response.  
  
  
“Human?” inquired Riku. He frowned, and then remembered the bubbles that had drifted to the surface. The dolphins had told him that humans were air breathers, but it never occurred to him that they could not live in the water. “Are you dying?” he asked again in urgency. Riku’s fast-beating heart seized with the realization that he might be witnessing a human youngling’s death. He quickly grabbed the human by its waist and rose to the surface with him in tow. It was his hope that another human would know what to do as soon as they saw the situation.  
  
  
To Riku’s surprise, the human spewed water from its mouth the moment that they reached the surface and began coughing loudly. He swam towards the shoreline with the youngling in tow, and left him on the breakers. The prince could hear distant voices shouting, so he quickly returned to the water before he could be seen. Thankfully, the surface world was currently dark enough to hide him from view.  
  
  
The youngling was quickly surrounded by several humans. There were cries of alarm and muted joy, followed by what sounded like scolding. Riku was relieved when the youngling proved to be strong enough to stand up and walk away with his pod.  
  
  
Riku learned an important thing about humans that day. They could only live in the air and would be killed if they stayed beneath the water too long. That caused him a great deal of sadness. He had plans of pulling the youngling underwater to show him his kingdom. They could have played among the anemones and secretly stored trinkets in the hidden caves along the shoreline. He was sure that the youngling would have been awed by all that Riku could have showed him.  
  
  
Their worlds were truly separate. Riku realized this when he tried to take the floating toy that the youngling had been chasing back to the palace. It kept slipping out of his claws and shooting towards the surface every time that he dived. Even when he attempted to push it against the currents with his weight, it yanked Riku back to the water's boundary as if bound by some magic.  
  
  
“Even this doesn’t want to leave your world,” sang Riku as he played with the youngling’s ball. “It’s not fair.”

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


It had been several days since Sora nearly drowned in the ocean. His parents were reluctant to let him return to the beach, but he insisted that he had learned his lesson to never swim when the tide was in. The only reason that he was allowed to return to the shoreline was that he would be under his father’s supervision from now on.  
  
  
That was fine, because Sora didn’t have any desire to swim. What he truly wanted was to find the boy that had saved him. When he was pulled from the breakers, he hoarsely asked the people around him about the silver haired boy that was still in the water. They told him that there was no one out there, just him.  
  
  
The adults insisted that Sora must have imagined it. If there was a lost child on the beach, then naturally he would have parents that were frantically searching for him. They believed that Sora must have been seeing things because of his near death experience. Sora would have accepted the explanation, but he distinctly remembered having a conversation with the boy before he was caught in a rip tide. Surely he couldn’t have started hallucinating before he nearly drowned.  
  
  
His father reluctantly allowed him to accompany him to the beach, as long as Sora remained under his watchful eye. They spent most of their time on a research vessel in the early mornings. Sora’s father was a marine biologist that was studying the communication of dolphins. Every other day, his dad sailed out into the ocean and used sensitive equipment to record the echolocations of those creatures. Lately, he tried replaying a recording to see if he got any response, but so far he hadn’t had any luck.  
  
  
While his father went about his work, Sora leaned against the railing of the boat and looked out into the ocean. He kept his eyes peeled for a sign of his savior, and sometimes he thought he caught a flash of white in the water, but it always turned out to be a cresting wave. This went on for several days, and at the end of every sunset, he would lower his head with disappointment. He began to believe that the silver-haired boy had been a dream after all.  
  
  
“Sora!”  
  
  
At the sound of his name, Sora looked over in his father’s direction. “Dad?” he inquired.  
  
  
Currently, his father had a pair of large headphones over his ears and was peering intently at the radar. He didn’t so much as blink when his son called his name. Frowning, Sora walked over and touched his father’s shirt.  
  
  
The man finally noticed his son, and he lifted one of his earpieces so that he could hear him. “Did you want something?” he asked.  
  
  
“Didn’t you just call me?” inquired Sora.  
  
  
“No, I didn’t call you. Although it would be nice if you helped me with all of this equipment instead of watching the water all day,” said his dad dryly.  
  
  
Sora frowned and left his father’s side. They were the only two people on the boat, so it was odd that his father wasn’t the one that called his name. That meant that the sound could only have come from the water. He looked out into the ocean, and then he spotted something that he never expected to see.  
  
  
“Dad, Dad, look!” said Sora excitedly. “It’s my ball, the one that I was looking for that day that I went swimming in high tide!”  
  
  
“What?” his father asked distractedly. He took off his headphones again and looked in the direction that Sora was frantically pointing. His eyebrows raised in understanding. “That’s your ball from home isn’t it? You’re a lucky boy, that ball should have floated halfway to Australia by now with these currents.”  
  
  
Sora’s father put aside his headphones and fetched a net. He used it to rescue Sora’s ball out of the water, which was then handed back to his son. “Take better care of it next time,” he said to Sora. Now that his son had something to occupy himself with, he returned to his work.  
  
  
Sora hugged the ball to himself. If it was true that his ball would have floated very far away, then maybe someone had brought it back, as impossible as that seemed. The boy whispered a heartfelt “thanks” to the ocean water, and believed with all his heart that there was someone out there who was thinking of him.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Underwater, beneath the hull of the ship, Riku was swimming in circles with a thrill. He had been practicing saying human words, and he figured out that he needed to suck in air through his gills to make the right noises.  


  
  
“Sora,” he said again, allowing the bubbles to escape his lips and rise to the surface. He had heard those sounds uttered towards the youngling before, and he deduced that it was the human’s name. It sounded muffled underwater, but there was no mistaking the distinct sound.  
  
  
“Just you wait,” Riku sang in his own language. “Someday, I’ll know you and your world.”  
  
  
  
  
  
**To be continued.**  
  
  



	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence
> 
>  **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
>   
>  **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
>  **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Dubious Consent, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
>  **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
>   
>   
> 

**Unfathomable**  
- _Chapter Two_ -  
  


Hundreds of cycles passed, and Riku’s interest in the human world grew into an obsession. It became harder and harder to hide his voyages to the surface world because the longer his tail grew, the more responsibilities were passed on to him as the young prince of Atlantica. He led a double life; underwater he excelled in hunting missions and learned the sacred powers of his people with uncanny intelligence. His father was impressed with his prowess and often sang the praises of his only son. On the surface, however, Riku was a wild mer that ignored all of his royal training so that he could engage in debauchery with the dolphins and indulge in his studies of the humans.  
  


Only one servant knew that there was more to Riku than meets the eye. It was the court composer, a crustacean by the name of Sebastian, who was aware that the prince was spoiled rotten. Despite his knowledge, he did not dare click a negative note against the royal mer in fear of punishment. Riku was well aware of this fact, and he often flaunted his true self in front of the servant just to torture the poor crab.  
  


At the moment, Sebastian was clicking his claws nervously. There was a grand ceremony that was to take place in the palace in a few cycles, and it was his job to make sure that the entertainment went smoothly. All of Triton’s staff were to be present to delight the guests with their ability to dance and create music. The purpose of the event was to mark Riku’s coming of age. Soon, the prince would be eligible to mate, and all the kingdom was waiting with flustered gills to see who the mer would chose for his own.  
  


It was Sebastian’s duty to ensure that all the choreography matched with the music. Unfortunately, he was having issues with making Riku practice his part. The prince was currently lounging on his seashell bed, and he was swirling a necklace of colorful volcanic rock around one of his clawed fingertips. Once upon a time, he fit in that shell bed like a small pearl. Now his long, sinewy body dominated it. His tailfin had matured into long, flowing fans with pointed edges for foraging and hunting. The dorsal fins on his back now trailed three feet behind him, and they were a ghostly, gossamer white that made the mers swoon as he swam by. Riku’s hair trailed past his shoulders in a platinum cloud that drifted lazily, except on those times that he tied it back with strings of seaweed mixed with tiny shells.  
  


Sebastian frowned at the lazy picture that the prince made. "Look ad you," he clicked up at Riku. He was incapable of pronouncing the swoops of the mer language, so his voice carried an accent that grated on Riku’s sense of hearing. "Lying dere like an overfed blowfish. Meanwhile da king es working hard on your Turning ceremony. Da love of your life could be dere, and if you fail to impress ‘er, den you will neva ged a second chance!"  
  


"Relax," sang Riku lazily. "What mer in their right mind would turn me down?" He stopped spinning the necklace in favor of holding it in a tight grasp. "Mating is easy. I swim around, show off my fins, find the prettiest mer in the palace, and then swish away to my chambers. Then I stick it in her so deep that you will hear the screeches from the next kingdom over."  
  


Sebastian gasped at the coarse description that Riku used. "Riku you are da crown prince! You are t' speak with da utmost respect – Whad are you doing?!"  
  


The crab made an appalled sound and covered his face with his pincers. Riku was wearing a bemused expression as he allowed a long, prehensile appendage to emerge from behind the scales that it normally hid behind, somewhere near the anterior top of his tail. He made it undulate upwards until it stretched a yard tall. "Just checking to see how long it is," he sang to Sebastian.  
  


"You pud dat away!" clicked Sebastian. "Dat is only fer the eyes of your chosen!"  
  


Riku willed his appendage back into the place where it was stored in his tail. His glossy white scales slid closed to protect the opening that it came from. "Might as well let the whole kingdom watch since that’s what the stupid ceremony is for," he sang with a note of impudence. Riku pushed off from his shell bed and swam a slow circle around Sebastian’s head. "Everyone wants to know what it’s like to be with me. But they’ll have to settle with living vicariously through a pretty mer that’ll likely bend her tail backwards if I ask." The prince pushed Sebastian off his feet with a flick of his fingertips. "Maybe that’ll be the first thing that I sing to my chosen. Bend yourself double. Think she will love me then?"  
  


Sebastian struggled to right himself after floating heads over heels. He waved one of his claws at Riku. "Someday, you will regred da way dat you are behaving now. Mark my words, prince!"  
  


Riku’s laughter bubbled as he gave his long tail a quick flick to send him darting through his chamber door and into the hallways of the palace.  
  


"Where are you going? Stop! We still 'ave da practice!" bemoaned Sebastian.  
  


Unfortunately for the court composer, Riku had other plans for the day. He quickly swam through the hallways, ignoring the smiles and bows that he received. The prince made his way out of one of the palace’s side exits and swam a great distance from Atlantica before diverting his direction upwards. It wasn’t long before he was engulfed in darkness, and then emerged into the brilliantly lit waters of the surface world.  
  


Almost as soon as he arrived, he was spotted by a nearby dolphin pod. They chattered amongst one another to announce the arrival of the naughty prince. Splash, who had since become one of Riku’s closest friends, detached herself from the group to swim alongside the mer. "I have something you want, Riku," taunted the dolphin.  
  


Riku rotated so that he was facing the dolphin while swimming backwards. "Where is it?" he demanded.  
  


"Over in your treasure cove like always," clicked the dolphin. "Not that it will do you any good. It’s just as useless as the others."  
  


"They aren’t useless," retorted Riku, before angling himself in the direction of the cove. The water near the underground caves was rough, but after many cycles of swimming there as a youngling, he knew how to handle it. He ducked into a small crawlspace that funneled through a mountain of rocks and emerged into a small cavern. There, all of his human treasures were stored, but there was only one in particular that he was interested in. He rose to the top of the cavern, and waiting for him there was a transparent bottle with a folded parchment inside.

It bobbed against the stone above, held aloft by the air trapped inside. Riku carefully grasped it and give its contents a close look, and then he swam to another hole that opened up to a waterless alcove. There, housed on a long, natural shelf, were dozens and dozens of bottles with pieces of paper inside.  
  


The first time that Riku found a bottle, he opened it and pulled out the paper. He only had a moment to glance at the human writing before the water melted everything away. It was both an exciting and frustrating moment, because he realized that it was a message from the humans. It was similar to the written tongue of the mer, who preserved their language on slabs of stone in their underwater world. Sadly, not even the dolphins could translate what had been written; the messages were another human mystery that eluded them.  
  


Riku learned not to open the bottles that he found; he realized that the air trapped inside was the only thing keeping the message alive. Instead, he kept every single last one in his cave, and they were all precious to him. His human, Sora, was always throwing them into the ocean. He was sure that it was an attempt to communicate with him. Several times, he thought of swimming to the shoreline to show that he had received the messages, however, ever since the fiasco of their first meeting, he did not want to interact with the human until he understood their language a little better.  
  


To that end, Riku had been practicing human speech. He spent countless amounts of time hiding underneath the wooden overhangs to listen to the voices above and understand what they were saying. Now he believed himself to be fluent enough to hold a decent conversation. Which was why today was a special day, but not in the way that Sebastian had hoped. Today he was finally going to reveal himself to Sora.  
  


He expected their first encounter to be nothing short of amazing. Sora would be impressed to be in the presence of such a majestic creature and was going to eagerly want to learn more about Riku in the same way that Riku wanted to learn about him. The prince would give him the volcanic necklace that he chiseled himself as a sign of good will. After biding his time for so long, he expected everything to go perfectly.  
  


Riku rose to the surface after securing his treasures. He patrolled the shoreline until he spotted the human that he was looking for. There was Sora, sitting on one of the docks that were far away from other humans. Time had changed the human boy. His legs were much longer now, and his torso was tanned and lean. Sora’s voice had deepened, and he didn’t play on the beach as much as he used to. Nowadays, he was often with a group of other humans his age, laughing and loitering about in the sand.  
  


That didn’t seem to be the case today. For once, Sora was alone, and this was the opportune moment that Riku had been waiting for. He slowly emerged from the water just off to the side of the unsuspecting human. This moment had played in the prince’s mind for many tides. He already knew what to say and do. All he needed was to finally act on this one, lifelong desire.  
  


"Hello Sora!"  
  


Riku jerked his head in the direction of the unknown voice. A human female was running in the direction of the dock where Sora was sitting. The mer quickly ducked underwater before he could be seen, bristling with impatience. How dare that stranger get in the way of such a momentous occasion! Riku circled the area a few times with a sour look on his face, and then he resurfaced again behind an outcropping of rocks. He clawed the side of the moss-covered boulders in front of him and carefully pulled himself upwards to see what was going on at the docks.  
  


The female sat next to Sora and they held hands. This was odd to Riku; he had never seen Sora do anything like this before. The humans leaned their heads close and pressed their lips together. Now that, the prince understood. It was something that the mer people did when they were mated. A cold chill went down his spine and straight into the ends of his tail. Surely, Sora didn’t...  
  


"Riku, you have been away too long," clicked Splash. She had been watching the goings on from afar, and now she came to a slow swim behind Riku. "It happened while you were last hunting with your father."  
  


"What happened?" demanded Riku, despite the fact that he could already guess what it was.  
  


"Your favorite human has mated. That is his chosen next to him. I suppose she’s lovely as most humans go. I can’t wait to see their pups once they are born," clicked Splash excitedly.  
  


The prince looked as if he was in shock. It never once occurred to him that Sora would eventually grow and find a mate. Riku had always imagined himself to be the center of Sora’s world, even if they never spoke to each other. Now, the reality of how insignificant he truly was to the human was sinking in.  
  


"Oh Riku," chided Splash, "Don’t look so belly-up. There will be other humans for you to meet."  
  


"No," sang Riku petulantly. "That was the human I grew up with. That’s MY human!"  
  


"You are too old to be speaking like a guppy. No one can own a human. He is not an anemone that you can keep as a pet. I am sorry Riku, but the tides always flow, even when you are floating still," clicked Splash sagely.  
  


Riku’s handsome face twisted into an expression of anger and anguish. He flicked his tail and went slicing through the water in the direction of the treasure cove. Splash was so alarmed by the merman’s behavior that she decided to follow him. No sooner did she reach the entrance to the cave that Riku re-emerged with a bottle in his claws.  
  


"This," he sang, thrusting the human object at the dolphin. "I must know what this message is."  
  


"Riku, you know very well that I can not understand human writing," clicked Splash, her tone expressing disapproval.  
  


"But there must be a creature out there who can. I don’t care what it takes. I want to know what it sings. I want to know what he’s been trying to tell me," sang the prince.  
  


"Riku, that may be an impossible quest," clicked Splash. "But you won’t take no for an answer will you? You spoiled mer." The dolphin used her teeth to take the bottle from Riku’s hand. Then she swam to the surface with it and emitted a loud cry through her blow hole. A flock of seagulls burst into flight and circled the area where Splash was swimming. She communicated with them through clicks, which the seagulls mimicked through their long beaks.  
  


Splash let go of the bottle and let it float in the water. One of the seagulls flew off to the shoreline and returned with a large pelican in tow. The larger bird swooped down and used its long and deep beak to scoop up the floating bottle. Then the entire mass of birds flew away towards the mainland, driven by their mission.  
  


"There, Riku. If there if anyone who knows anything, the birds will find them," clicked Splash upon returning to the prince. "I don’t know what you wish to accomplish with such a foolish request."  
  


"You wouldn’t understand. You’re just like my father. You don’t care about the humans at all," sang Riku. Then he dived into deeper waters, leaving Splash behind.  
  


"They are not angel-fish Riku, you are chasing shadows!" clicked Splash after the mer. Then she uttered a worried murr when she realized that she was not going to be able to get through to the hard-headed prince.  
  


Riku swam back to the depths of Atlantica. He didn’t want to remain at the surface waters anymore. All the joy of it had been sucked out. He had gone through his life believing that he had a special connection with the human, and it hurt to think that Sora could be with someone who was even more special than him. Riku expected to be the center of the boy's world, just as Sora had been his. Now he realized that it was all just a youngling’s dream.  
  


He made his way through the glittering corridors of the palace, ignoring the mers that bowed to him or tried to catch his eye. Riku would have gone straight to his room if he didn’t overhear his father’s booming voice through the grand ante-chamber. The prince heard his name mentioned, so he hid behind one of the columns so that he could eavesdrop and hear what was being said about him.  
  


"Your majesdy, are you sure dat et isn’t t' soon to make prince Riku choose a mate?" asked Sebastian worriedly. Considering Riku’s unruly behavior, he feared what would happen to the poor mermaid that became chosen by him.  
  


"Sebastian, the reality is that Riku is a fine, strapping male," answered King Triton with a touch of pride. "A mer like that isn’t going to ignore maidens for long. We must help to guide him towards a proper choice, otherwise he may make a dire mistake. A prince must always make the right decisions in order to gain the trust of the mer if he is to be king."  
  


"But sire, he es young!" protested Sebastian. "Whad if he doesn’t know how da treat another mer right? Den what will become of et?"  
  


"All the more reason why we must intervene early," sang Triton grandly. "I’ll not have him mating with some fish that he drags in from the reef. It will be someone of proper birth and manners. He’s shown that he’s mature enough for it. It’s time that we ensure Atlantica’s future."  
  


Sebastian cringed at Triton’s words. If Riku was mature, then he would eat his left claw.  
  


Riku scowled at what he heard, and then he continued swimming to his chambers. Was this how he was to live the remainder of his life? With all the important choices already made for him, even the ones concerning his mate and body? Every fiber of his being wanted to rebel against it. He was tempted to find some random fish and make his father’s worse fear come true out of spite. However, he didn’t want to be stuck with some lovesick mer that would never leave him alone either.  
  


Riku threw the necklace that he meant to give Sora in frustration. It floated away, eventually drifting to some forgotten corner of the room. To Riku, life seemed very grim in that moment.  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The Turning ceremony began as scheduled. The palace was filled with lights of every shade of color, and delicate corals and bright anemone had been arranged to accent the floors and walls of the grand hall. Mers swam into the entryway with notes of excitement spilling from their lips. They wore their best pearls and accented their fins with colored sand. The water in the palace teemed with the currents of flipping fins and clapping hands as the festivities began.  
  


Riku’s body was painted in glowing blue colors that could only come from the most finely cultivated pools of luminescent animals. When he swam among his people, there were several vibrations of appreciation accompanying the bowing and curtsying that he received. Normally that would have fed his ego, but tonight it only made his gullet ache with trepidation. One of those people gathered would have to become his mate, and so far he was not impressed with any of them.  
  


He had to stay on his best behavior because delegates from neighboring kingdoms were attending. If he didn’t like any of the high ranking mers in his own realm, then the next best thing would be to choose a mate from among the representatives of the others. Riku was slightly more interested in them than in the choices of his own homeland. The cultures of other kingdoms were different. Some were more militaristic, others held different ideals, and some had odd physical traits. At the very least, he would be entertained if he chose one of them. Even so, he had to stay sharp. The reason that any of the neighboring kingdoms would want him in their fold was so that they could have the power of the Trident in their bloodline.  
  


Riku had to be especially careful of the Orcas. They hailed from the Kingdom of Noctis, and they were a warmongering breed of mers that sought to conquer the entire ocean. Currently, they were on friendly terms with Atlantica because the Trident’s power had the capacity to put an end to their ambitions. They were the natural enemies of the Sirens, mers that upheld firm beliefs in the sanctity of freedom for all oceanic creatures. The Sirens were from the Kingdom of Lumina, and they often clashed with the Orca over border disputes. They were present at the Turning ceremony because they hoped that King Triton would ally with them and put an end to the Orca’s bloodthirsty ambition.  
  


King Triton chose to remain neutral in the matters of the neighboring kingdoms. Riku was to do the same in order to represent his father’s interests. However, he couldn’t help but hold an interest in the two warring kingdoms, just because they represented choices that his father didn’t want him to make.  
  


"Aaaah, Prince Riku," crooned a nearby mer. An old but distinguished orca approached the prince at a slow swim. King Xehanort of the Kingdom of Noctis may have been many years the senior of King Triton, but his craftiness only sharpened with age. His long, black and white tail was faded in many spots, and the tears in his fins spoke of many past battles. "You have reached quite an exciting time in your life. I remember my Turning ceremony. The whole world was wide and vast before me, brilliant and exciting."  
  


Riku schooled the expression on his face to polite neutrality as the old orca spoke to him. He bowed his head in deference to the king. "The Turning means that I will have as many responsibilities as I have opportunities," sang Riku, reciting what it was that his tutors had taught him.  
  


"Oh, but I sense in you a wild spirit, prince Riku," clicked Xehanort. His golden eyes appeared to gleam as he looked directly at the prince, as if the other mer were completely transparent. "When I was your age, I dreamed of adventure and glory. But alas, I had responsibility. I was a prince, such as yourself, and I was groomed to eventually take the mantle of King. I lost my youth to responsibility. I can hardly remember a time when I had any fun. But surely King Triton is more lenient on you. After all, you are his favorite."  
  


Riku ground his sharp teeth at Xehanort's words. He hated the thought of growing into an old king like his father and the mer before him, with nothing more to his life than making rules and planning parties just to keep his subjects happy. "For some mers, responsibility is a great adventure," he sang, the notes sounding false and flat even to his own hearing.  
  


"I suppose it is inevitable for someone such as yourself," clicked Xehanort. "But that doesn’t mean that it can not be postponed. Just think of what a few character building cycles in Noctis would be like. Our mermaids aren’t like the usual sort that you would find out in the anemones. They are fierce warriors, equal to any merman. They know what the word adventure means. It would be an interesting honeymoon, to say the least."  
  


The old king chuckled, and then he gestured towards a group of female orca that were gathered nearby. Unlike the king, their scales weren’t faded and their fins were healthy and intact. Their eyelids were smudged in shadowy grit that gave them an almost dangerous, but alluring appeal. Their black and white tails were voluptuous and muscled; Riku didn’t doubt that any of them could keep up with him in a fast swim.  
  


"There is one good thing about being royalty," continued Xehanort. He circled closer to Riku so that he could sing in a lower tone. "Anything that you wish to possess is automatically yours by sovereign right. And that doesn’t always mean the things only in your kingdom."  
  


Riku gave Xehanort a strange look. He didn’t quite understand what the old orca was getting at. It wasn’t until Xehanort flicked his eyes in another direction that he finally understood.  
  


Floating close to the ceiling away from the other mers was a lovely siren. Everyone knew her name because she was infamous for rebuffing the affections of suitors despite the many efforts to woo her. Her name was Aqua, and it was no wonder that others wanted to mate with her. The maiden's slender tail was toned in purple and blue scales that melded into each other in a beautiful gradient. Her fins were long and primly arched in the way that only fine upbringing could guarantee. She had rare fins on her forearms, a coveted trait among mermaids, and blue hair that she stubbornly kept short despite the protests of her friends and family. She was a high ranking lady among the court of Lumina who was very active in the preservation of the rights of merfolk.  
  


Riku immediately grew suspicious. Why would Xehanort want him to mate with Lady Aqua of the Sirens? That would only serve to strengthen the ties of Atlantica to Noctis’s mortal enemies. He tried not to let his concern show as he sang, "Thank you, but I think that’s an area that I can handle on my own."  
  


"Is it?" challenged Xehanort with a condescending smile.  
  


Riku bristled at what the old mer was implying. He had been practically worshipped for his appearance since the moment that he was born. His pride overrode his earlier trepidation, and without another word, he swam towards the area where Aqua was floating.  
  


She wasn’t expecting a personal interaction with the prince. While the other mermaids were primping and fawning over Riku, she was scratching a letter on a thin piece of slate. Aqua was quite surprised when she saw a flash of a pearlescent tail, and looked up to see the prince looming over her.  
  


"Are you hiding from me in this corner?" asked Riku bluntly, although there was a charming smile along with that question.  
  


Aqua turned the piece of slate over in order to maintain the privacy of the letter. Her gills flared momentarily so that she could communicate clearly to the prince. "Obviously, I’m not hiding well enough," she sang with a smile of embarrassment. Aqua curtseyed low to the prince. "I’m afraid that I’m not very good at parties."  
  


"There’s only one thing that you’ll have to do at this party," sang Riku with a grin. "Dance with me as if you are my chosen."  
  


Aqua immediately became flustered at what Riku said. "No, oh no I couldn’t. I am some cycles older than you, and it would cause a headache of a scandal. I highly advise against it Prince Ri—"  
  


She never got to finish what she was saying. Riku reached for one of her wrists and began pulling her out to the dancing area. The mer who had been watching the interaction from afar made murmurs of excitement. Aqua was the first mermaid that Riku spoke to all night. Many believed that the prince was finally showing interest in a mate.  
  


The prince brought Aqua to the very center of the dancing area. She stopped attempting to squirm away when she realized that they were being watched very closely. Aqua did not want to embarrass Riku at his own Turning ceremony, so she swallowed her pride and gave in to the prince’s wish for a dance. Riku guided her long, slender arms around his neck, and he gently but firmly placed his clawed hands on the beginning curves of her tail, and rocked her in tandem to the music.  
  


Aqua’s face purpled with the rush of blue blood to her cheeks. Riku was leading her so forcefully that she hardly had room to decide which way to turn her own tail. "Prince Riku, with all due _respect_ ," she sang, emphasizing the word to indicate that she was receiving none of that herself, "although I am flattered, surely you aren’t thinking of making me your chosen."  
  


"What if I was?" sang Riku coyly. He pulled Aqua closer until their tails practically meshed together as they turned around and around.  
  


Aqua gasped at the intimate move. Her first instinct was to shove Riku away, and it took every ounce of her will not to do it. Instead, her claws began to dig into the back of the prince's neck in warning. "I have just this tide promised myself to someone else, and your actions will anger him!"  
  


"Have you?" asked Riku. He tilted his head forwards so that their foreheads touched. To the onlookers, it may have looked like they were having tender conversation, when in reality Aqua was coming close to drawing blood with her claws. "Someone as picky as you couldn’t have possibly decided on someone. I think you’re lying."  
  


"I am not a liar!" sang Aqua in defensive tone, her gills now flaring in anger.  
  


"Then who?" challenged Riku. "What’s the name of the lucky mer?"  
  


Aqua gritted her sharp teeth. She had turned down so many suitors that it became almost an issue of pride to be someone who had stalwartly rebuffed tradition for her own personal freedom. That was why it was difficult to admit now that she was ready to settle down. "Terra. General of the Siren army," she answered with a touch of reluctance.  
  


Riku was inwardly shocked by the answer. Now he understood why Xehanort wanted him to swim after Aqua. If he angered such a high ranking person of the Siren kingdom then it would hurt Atlantica’s ties to them. _That slippery eel_ , he mentally cursed. Now that he had been seen in Aqua’s company, he couldn’t just dismiss her. He had to think of her honor as well because she was a high ranking noble.  
  


He didn’t let his thoughts show on his face. Instead, he maintained an adventurous smile as he leaned in and whispered to the mermaid, "Don’t leave Atlantica. I invite you to stay in the castle for a while." Then he gently glided his hands over the ghostly fins of her arms and withdrew from the dance. He gave her a respectful bow and swam away.  
  


Aqua wanted to strangle Riku, but she curtseyed in return, hissing at the prince that she could not stay, but knowing that she had to. It would be disrespectful to refuse the prince’s invitation, even though she had no interest in him whatsoever. It was customary for the prince to invite mermaids that he was interested in to stay in the castle and get to know him. She had no choice but to follow the custom in hopes of keeping everyone’s honor intact. Everyone but Terra, much to her dismay.  
  


Riku knew that he was creating a very precarious situation by choosing someone from Lumina. To keep the playing ground even, he picked a formidable female from Noctis, several others from other neighboring kingdoms, and a few from his own. With all of them under the roof of the palace, it would only be a matter of time before they fought amongst each other and made a disgrace of themselves. At that point, Riku could dismiss them all without a scratch to his image. In the event that they didn’t fight, he’d find a reason to make them do so.  
  


The rest of the party went on as expected. Every mer was abuzz with the news that Riku had chosen so many potential suitors. A conclusion was made that the prince was undecided, which meant that it was still anyone’s chance to become his mate. It was going to be an uphill battle for those who were invited to the palace, and nearly every single one of those mermaids were ready for that fight.  
  


That was the only positive that came out of having this Turning ceremony; the fact that Riku was going to be well entertained. It was the only thing he cared about as he went through the ritual dances and songs that were required of him. At the close of the festivities, he bid the guests goodbye and escorted all of the females to their new rooms. Some of mermaids invited him to spend more time with them privately, but he politely turned them down while feigning a shyness that he didn’t have.  
  


His father was alarmed at how many suitors Riku brought into the palace, but the prince explained that it was part of his strategy to prevent anyone from losing face. That seemed to relax Triton somewhat, although he still spent a lot of time lecturing his son on the importance of picking the right mate.  
  


By the time Riku retired to his room, he was exhausted. He tiredly rolled a boulder against the entryway to his personal quarters in hopes of preventing anyone from interrupting his sleep. Unfortunately, fate had a different scenario in store for him.  
  


"Prince Riku!" squeaked a small voice from inside of his chambers.  
  


Riku whirled around and discovered that there was a yellow and blue fish floating in his room. "Why are you here?" he demanded of the intruder.  
  


"I-I’m sorry," sputtered the fish. "M-M-My name is Flounder. I was sent here by Splash. Something about a - a message."  
  


That caught Riku’s immediate interest. He swam over to the fish, his eyes bright with growing excitement. All semblance of being tired completely vanished. "And?"  
  


"We-well, the pelican flew into the human city, and then it, it talked to the pigeons, who talked to the rats and –"  
  


"What does the message say?" repeated Riku impatiently.  
  


"Sorry! It says, er." Flounder flapped his fins as he attempted to recall the words. "This.. this is my last message to you, because I don’t want to keep hurting the ocean. To this ah.. this day, I still remember you, and I’ll never forget what you did for me. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for... for you. I wish that I could have seen you, one.. one last time so I could say, thank you. I wish we could have been friends. Signed, ah. Sora. Yeah, definitely Sora."  
  


Riku looked stunned for a few moments after Flounder recited the message that was in the bottle. Then, a slow smile overtook his expression. "He didn’t forget me."  
  


"Who didn’t forget you?" asked Flounder. His body tilted sideways in the water with curiosity.  
  


"He didn’t forget!" repeated Riku with excitement. Suddenly, he was a whirl of movement. The prince shoved aside the boulder blocking his room and darted off into the hallways of the palace.  
  


"Wait! Who didn’t forget what?" called Flounder after Riku. "Where is he going?"  
  


Riku was heading for the surface. It didn’t matter if it was an ungodly time to do it. Mers would be watching his every move after his Turning ceremony, but he didn’t care. He wanted to see Sora right now. The prince did his best to avoid attention, but the moment that he was free of the palace gates, he ascended to the surface world as fast as his tail could take him.  
  


Little did he know, someone saw him. King Xehanort observed Riku's climb into the darkness above from his place hidden in the shadows. He took a gander that the prince would sneak off to one of the mermaid’s rooms, but he never dreamed that the merman would take such an unusual detour. Xehanort clicked a command to an orca that was accompanying him, "Follow him."  
  


"As you wish," replied his bodyguard. This particular mer was just as embattled as the King. A patch made out of a round shell covered one of his eyes, and his face was irreversibly marred from a scar over his left cheek. With a sinister smile, he pursued Riku to the surface world.  
  


Xehanort folded his arms behind his tail. He was certain that if Prince Riku had a secret, then Braig would be sure to find out what it was.  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku broke water and flared his gills against the crisp air. The sun was gone, and in its place was a bright moon that painted the water as brilliantly as his own scales. He could feel the tide gathering strength, threatening to drag him back into the depths if he didn’t fight it with his tail. A foreboding wind tore at his wet hair and screamed through the palm trees with a loud howl.  
  


Splash had a feeling that Riku would ascend immediately after sending down a message with Flounder. She was keeping a sharp eye out for him, and she murred with consternation when sure enough, Riku made an appearance. Since the ocean’s surface was very rough, she remained below the waters with her pod, who were all huddling behind rocks to avoid being swept away. "Riku!" she clicked towards the mer. "It’s dangerous at the surface. There is a storm coming."  
  


Riku ducked his head beneath water when he heard Splash’s familiar notes. "Where is Sora?" he sang back at the dolphin.  
  


"He rode his fast-boat against the tide. Riku, don’t you even think –"  
  


Unfortunately, not only did Riku think it, he acted on it. He darted under the roiling water and went swimming against the tide. It occurred to the prince that it was foolish to rush to the surface while the sun was down. Sora was rarely outside beyond that time; therefore his chances of seeing him were slim. However, now that Splash confirmed that he was out in the ocean while the water was warring with the air, he was concerned. He knew of the fast-boat that Splash spoke of, and it was flimsy at best. Still, it would be a miracle if he managed to catch up to it.  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sora shouldn’t have taken the jet ski out this late, but after getting Kairi’s phone call, he couldn’t stop himself. She said that her father had been called back to duty with the Navy, so she was going to be moving first thing in the morning. Tonight was the last time that they would ever be able to see each other again.  
  


Their relationship was one of those torrid love affairs that started fierce and ended just as strongly. She was the first girl that Sora ever had feelings for, and it was tearing him apart that it was going to end so suddenly. It was the least he could do to show up at her doorstep one last time before having to say goodbye.  
  


Kairi lived on one of the remote islands by the beach. Her father attempted to keep her innocent by choosing such a faraway location, but his efforts were in vain. Kairi was a very wild and free girl, and it was that spirit that drew Sora to her in the first place. Now she was going to be whisked away to her next adventure and Sora was going to be left behind in the same place where she found him.  
  


It wasn’t fair. They entertained the idea of a long distance relationship, but they both knew that it was a lost cause. The time that they had been together was been very brief and their friendship just as short. That was the nature of summer love; here today and gone tomorrow. Sora gave her his last kisses, and she wished him all the love and joy in the world.  
  


Sadly, Sora couldn’t feel any of those things now. He was miserable with loneliness. Kairi wanted him to stay on the island until the storm passed, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. The longer he stayed with her, the harder it was going to be to let go. So he mounted his jet ski and took off into the darkness. He could barely see the distant shoreline through his tears.  
  


The sky opened up with torrential rain. Waves unhindered by any barrier reefs began to tower dangerously high. Sora fought to keep his jet ski under control, but deep down a part of him almost wished that the ocean would just swallow him up and end this misery.  
  


It was inevitable that he would capsize. The jet ski sprung out of his control and he fell into the churning water. Sora remained attached to his vehicle by the lifeline velcroed to his wrist, so he used it to guide him back to the surface. He managed to wrap one arm around the seat, but then a fast moving wave knocked his head against the side of the metal.  
  


Slowly, his consciousness slipped away from him. As the world turned black, he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of irony. He almost drowned when he was a child several years ago. He remembered being saved that time even though nobody believed that what he saw was real.  
  


_I’m not lucky enough to see an angel twice_ , he thought to himself.  
  


And yet, he thought he saw a flash of white just before his eyes closed.  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku caught Sora in his claws before he could sink further into the ocean. This time he knew to keep the human’s head above water to keep him alive, but it was a struggle. The boat kept bumping into them, and it took a while to figure out that there was a line attached to Sora’s wrist. Riku bit through it with his sharp teeth, and then he carried the dead weight towards the nearest shoreline.  
  


"This is the second time, human," he clicked at the unconscious Sora. "You are completely in my debt."  
  


As they made their way to safety, Braig followed at a distance with a bemused expression. Consorting with humans? Riku’s father wasn’t going to be very happy about that.  
  


**To be continued.**


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence  
> 
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
> 
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi  
> 
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, Dubious Consent, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality  
> 
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
> 

**Unfathomable**  
- _Chapter Three_ -  
  


By the time Riku reached the shallows, the moon was sliding down into the horizon. It had been a long swim and he was exhausted. The breaking waves were merciless as they crashed over the prince and Sora, inundating them in sea foam and the debris of the ocean. Riku’s tail dragged on the sand, and it was with pure arm strength and a little help of the ebb and flow of water that he managed to overcome the weight of the water-logged human and his own heavy body.  
  


Riku’s gills were flaring as he panted. The reservoir of water in his tail was barely enough to sustain this much activity out in the air. He propped himself above Sora’s motionless figure, his hair a wet, clumped mess that fell over their bodies. His scales were starting to feel itchy from the bits of sand that clung to them. It suddenly occurred to the prince that this was the first time that he had ever made such a mess of himself. The feeling was dirty, yet decadent. He liked it.  
  


Time passed, and he waited for Sora to open his eyes. There was a large purple spot on the side of the human’s head that was very disconcerting to see. The thought occurred to Riku that maybe Sora was too damaged to wake up, but the steady rise and fall of his chest assured him that the boy was alive. As long as Sora took breath, he was still a living being in an air-breather’s world.  
  


Curiosity drove Riku to brush Sora’s face. His skin felt different. Wet, yet smooth in a way that was different than a mer’s slippery coat. The lips were soft, and they quivered as they were touched. The prince drew a line down the boy's neck with barest pressure, careful not to cut the skin with his claws. He lightly squeezed the collar of his shirt and marveled at its texture. He never could figure out why humans wore things on their bodies. The dolphins used to joke that it was because they were so ugly without them.  
  


Riku peeled the shirt collar down to try to peek beyond it, but the darkness made it difficult to see. He pawed at Sora until he found a place where the fabric gave easily and slowly lifted it, half afraid that he was skinning the human alive. There was no cry of pain and the fresh skin that he found beneath was reassuring, so he continued pulling the shirt up until it was bunched under Sora’s chin, exposing the boy’s abs, stomach and chest.  
  


He had seen Sora’s bare trunk many times when he observed the human swimming, so it was no surprise to see the similarities between the top half of their bodies. Riku turned his head sideways and pressed his ear to the other's skin, and half laughed when he heard soft thumping. For all the stories of humans being heartless creatures, his Sora definitely had a beating heart. It had a cadence that sounded lazy to Riku’s ears. In comparison, the heart of a mer was expected to beat as rapidly as the flick of a minnow’s tail swimming at top speed.  
  


Riku wanted to see what other secrets humans hid in their clothing. He found an edge to Sora’s shorts and tugged them down, hissing a bit when they caught in the sand. Sora’s genitals became completely exposed, and for several long moments, the mer stared because he couldn’t figure out what they were. When it occurred to him that these were reproductive organs, he was appalled. How could humans live with their most vulnerable parts exposed like that? Any animal could come and bite them off. Riku’s own sex parts were well hidden and protected in his tail.  
  


The prince’s insatiable curiosity led him to attempt to roll Sora so that he could look behind him, but the human was heavy and the mer had limited strength while he was beached. He ended up only jostling Sora, who moaned painfully in response. The noise caught Riku’s attention, and he immediately stopped what he was doing to watch the boy intently.  
  


Sora did not look well. He grimaced as he raised both arms to cover his throbbing head. Nausea turned the world topsy turvy, and he turned sideways as he gagged and coughed at the same time. Then, with slow, agonizing movements, he pushed himself into a sitting position and held his face in his hands.  
  


He remained that way for a long time, and Riku grew concerned. The mer tilted his head to try and see past the fingers blocking Sora's eyes. Obviously the boy was too preoccupied with his own injuries to notice him just yet. As time went on, the prince started to feel affronted. This was the second time that he saved Sora and he was not going to swim away without some kind of acknowledgement. He leaned forwards, placing himself close to the human’s face, and for the first time tried to speak to him.  
  


"Sora."  
  


That caught the boy's attention. Sora pulled his hands away from his eyes, and at first only stared. He didn’t realize that there was someone with him, and somehow he recognized the stranger’s face. Slowly, he lowered his arms as the dredges of memory called up a platinum haired boy that once saved him from the ocean. "You.. you are.." he murmured, recognition now coloring his expression.  
  


Riku nodded with enthusiasm. Yes, it was him. He was the hero.  
  


"No way. Everyone told me that you were just a dream," said Sora in disbelief. "Maybe I am still dreaming. I hit my head." He clutched at his temples again and flinched at the throbbing that he felt.  
  


"Riku," rasped the prince insistently. He gestured towards himself and repeated "Riku" in hopes of teaching the human his name.  
  


Sora’s headache felt awful. He stood up because sitting still seemed to make the feeling worse. His shorts tangled at his thighs, and he grumbled as he pulled them back up. Flashing the guy that saved his life was not the best impression to make. "Sorry – what are you saying?" he asked in a daze.  
  


The boy wondered why the stranger wasn’t standing up. He looked down at Riku and for the first time beheld that the mer did not have any legs. At first, Sora thought that it was a trick of the light. Perhaps his savior's feet were stuck in the sand, or they camouflaged in the sea spray, or maybe he simply had that bad of a concussion. Whatever the cause, he was transfixed on the oddity of seeing a long tail extending beyond Riku’s torso.  
  


It suddenly occurred to the prince that appearing less than presentable was not the best first impression to make. His pride chafed, but he flicked his hair over his shoulder and puffed up his chest anyway. The wing-like dorsal fins on his back fluttered; underwater they would have fanned marvelously, on land they merely twitched subtly. Despite being beached and dirtied, he was not going to show weakness to this human.  
  


"You...... Have a fishtail," said Sora flatly. Then he laughed ruefully as he turned away. "I must have hit my head so hard, I’m hallucinating. My dad is never going to let me ride a jet ski again."  
  


Sora was using words that Riku couldn’t process. He had done his best to learn his language, but it was far from perfect. It seemed that the boy was noticing his tail, which Riku flicked impatiently. This wasn't the reaction he expected. Where was the wonderment? The questions? Surely this human had not seen a mer before in its life.  
  


The prince reached out to curl his clawed fingers around Sora’s ankles. This made the human draw his attention back to him. He gestured towards an outcropping of rocks on the distant shoreline. "When sky fall, you see Riku there."  
  


"What?" said Sora cluelessly. "You want to meet there?"  
  


Riku nodded, and then he began inching back into the ocean. If he stayed on land any longer, not only would he get sick from lack of water, but his absence would be noticed back at the palace. When the next wave came, he rode its ebb back into shallow waters.  
  


"Wait!" cried Sora in alarm. He rushed into the breakers, but Riku was faster. The mer was already in deep waters by the time the boy was submerged up to his knees. He had the misguided notion that Riku would drown if he swam out there at this time of day. Then he remembered that the guy had a fish tail.  
  


It had to be a hallucination. However, if that fish boy wasn’t real, then who saved him just now?  
  


Sora cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled "Thank yoooou!" just as Riku’s white tail disappeared beneath the waves. Then he simply stood there and tried to process everything that happened to him in the last couple of hours. The memory of Kairi caused a fresh ache in his heart, and it was compounded by the fact that he lost his jet ski, and once again, no one was going to believe him when he said that he was saved by a platinum haired boy who lived in the ocean.  
  


He sighed. There was nothing else that he could do but make his way out of the water and trudge his way home.  
  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


What a weird human! Not only did Sora nearly get himself killed twice, but he looked at Riku as if he was a lantern fish trying to lure a shark. Were all of them like that, or did he just happen to pick the one that was a few coral short of a reef? Riku thought that he knew Sora like the back of his fin, but after speaking to the boy he realized that there was so much that he had no clue about.  
  


Even so, he turned in the waters with excitement. The fact that there was still so much more to learn was exciting. He looked forwards to meeting with Sora again.  
  


As he hurriedly swam into the depths of the sea, he didn’t notice that he was being tailed.  
  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}  
  


  


  


Braig made certain that the prince did not notice his presence, although he didn’t need to put much effort into it. Riku was so lost in his own world of human fantasy that he did not realize that someone was stalking him. It amused the orca to no end to see the interaction between mer and man. The excitement that the prince radiated was particularly eyebrow-raising. Just what was Riku up to?  
  


Xehanort was thinking the same thing. He was observing Riku’s movements from within the comfort of one of the palace guest rooms. Braig’s right eye was enchanted, and upon the removal of the shell patch, the king of Noctis could see everything that his cohort did.  
  


"Good work Braig," praised Xehanort. Although the room was empty and his servant was far away, he knew that his words would carry to the orca through the spell. "Spurred by the rebellion of youth, the young prince is flicking his tail in forbidden territories. This information will be quite useful. Keep a close eye on him. I want to know his every move."  
  


"Looks like I’ll have to get used to being high and dry," sang Braig in amusement. He was certain that this wasn’t the last time that he would be following the prince to the distant surface.  
  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


When it came time for the mers to wake, the prince was nowhere to be seen. Since he stayed up so late, Riku was loathed to remove himself from the comfort of his seashell bed. He would have stayed there for an entire cycle if Sebastian didn’t dig a small hole past the boulder that served as the chamber’s door.  
  


The crab made a soft _ptooie!_ sound as it coughed up bits of sand that managed to get into its mouth. Someday, the mers would realize that doorways made of heavy stone were not conducive to small crustaceans such as himself. He rattled his body to shake off stray sand, and then drew himself up with dignity. Sebastian walked over to where Riku lay like a giant, lazy whale, kicked his little legs so that he could swim up to the seashell bed, and then skittered close to the the prince. He cupped his claws over his mouth and clicked as loudly as he could:  
  


"GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP."  
  


Riku shot his head up at the rude awakening, and then hissed at the little crab on his bed. "What is WRONG with you!"  
  


"I shud be asking you dat question!" clicked Sebastian imperiously. "You 'ave twenty female maidens floating at da breakfast table alone without da guest of honor. So I came t' find you, an' what do I see? You looking a mess, sleeping like dere isn’t a care in da world!"  
  


Riku flared his gills with a note of chagrin as he rubbed his face. He forgot all about the mermaids that were vying for his attention in the castle. Sebastian was right; it really didn’t look good if he slept in while the girls ate alone. "Son of a codfish," he cursed. The prince immediately swam off the bed and went to the vanity that was in the room. He quickly attempted to tame his hair and sweep the sand off his scales in preparation for showing himself in public.  
  


"Dun you start using dat bad language, you are da crown prince!" admonished Sebastian. He swam over to where Riku was desperately preening in front of the volcanic glass. A natural shelf that had been chiseled to house several trinkets served as the prince’s dresser. Sebastian landed on top of it and used his claws to fetch items that he thought Riku should wear. "I do think dat you will look dashing in dis. Now dun forget, mind yo' matters, and above all. Be a gentlemer!"  
  


"Whatever," answered Riku in a low note. He used a string of pearls that Sebastian offered to tie his hair into a ponytail.  
  


"You bettah take dis seriously, I will not 'ave you embarrassing da whole kingdom!"  
  


"I got it already!" sang Riku in irritation. He swam towards the door and pulled back the boulder so that he could rush out into the hallway at a fast swim.  
  


"Da tides save us all," clicked Sebastian worriedly.  
  


Riku nearly sent the servants careening fins over head from the wake of his fast swim. He didn’t stop until he made it to the grand dining room, which had been decorated with beautiful underwater flora and filled with music. There was a long stone table at the center of the chamber, and on either side of it all twenty mermaids that the prince had invited to stay in the palace were floating.  
  


They had been polite and refused to eat until Riku arrived. Judging by the smell of food and the look of relief on their faces, the mermaids had been kept waiting for quite a while. The prince straightened up his spine and floated to his place at the head of the table. "I apologize for my tardiness," he sang formally. "There was an emergency that I had to attend to."  
  


The lie seemed to be taken well. All of the mermaids bowed their heads in acceptance, and then they happily partook of the food that was waiting to be consumed.  
  


"Excuse me, Prince Riku!" sang a voice from the opposite end of the table.  
  


Riku paused in the middle of bringing kelp to his mouth. He looked down the line of mermaids to see who was brazen enough to talk directly to him like that. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised to see Aqua waving at him. "Yes?" he sang to her in a clipped note.  
  


Aqua held up her stone plate, revealing that there wasn’t a single item of food left on it. "I finished my breakfast already, may I be dismissed?"  
  


Riku flashed his teeth in a shark-like smile. Apparently, all the mermaids had waited for his arrival before eating – except Aqua. So she wanted to play that game huh? Fine, the prince was more than happy to spin her tail in a loop. "I’m glad that you finished. Now you can come and float next to me."  
  


This caused some of the mermaids to grit their teeth and flutter their gills in consternation. Aqua was the rudest one, why did she get to float next to the prince? Some of them even started eating faster in hopes that finishing early would likewise give them a chance to get some quality time next to Riku.  
  


Aqua hid her annoyance behind a cool façade. She lazily swam over to the head of the table and dutifully took her place beside Riku. "You look very tired, my prince. It must have been quite the emergency last night," she sang coolly.  
  


"I very nearly didn’t make it this morning," answered Riku. "But I didn’t want to leave all of these beautiful maidens alone. They all have a special place in my heart, after all. You included, Lady Aqua."  
  


The prince's words sent the mermaids swooning. Aqua, on the other hand, was trying her best not to burst out laughing. She didn’t know if it was her age or experience with mermen, but she could spot the bald faced lie coming out of the prince’s mouth from a fathom away. "Oh Riku, you’re very flattering," she simpered. "Here, allow me to do a maiden’s duty."  
  


Aqua picked up a piece of oyster meat from Riku’s plate and practically shoved it at his mouth. It was an underhanded attempt to get him to shut up. To her surprise, not only did the mer open his lips for her, but he caught her entire finger in his mouth. She held back a gasp as she felt the sharp pinpoints of the prince’s teeth digging into her flesh, not enough to injure but enough to warn. Then his tongue delivered a long, lingering swipe of her digit before he allowed it to be released.  
  


"Thank you Aqua," sang Riku after swallowing the morsel. His aquamarine eyes narrowed to a predatory slit. "You’ll make a good mate someday."  
  


Aqua’s cheeks colored purple with embarrassment. The prince was more formidable than she thought. Who knew that King Triton was capable of raising such a shark in peaceful waters? _I’m not going to lose my composure here_ , she thought to herself. _He’s just a youngling for clam's sake_.  
  


Still, she could see why so many maidens from different kingdoms were vying for Riku’s attention. Even without the power of the Trident behind him, the merman was a force to be reckoned with. His devastating good looks hid a cunning that Aqua was only just starting to glimpse. She truly was frightened for the mermaid that the prince would eventually choose as his mate.  
  


Riku continued to calmly eat his meal and hold casual conversation with his guests. Every now and then, he would flash a smile and flirt with a maiden or two, all while mentally plotting how he was going to cull this herd later.  
  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


It was several days since Sora had his accident out at sea. As expected, his father was furious at the fact that he had lost a vehicle that cost thousands of dollars. Sora was grounded for a week, and only now were his parents allowing him to leave the house again.  
  


Against his better judgment, he decided to try waiting at the outcropping of rocks at the far end of the beach. He still wasn’t sure if the fish boy was a hallucination, and he was starting to wonder if maybe he was a little crazy after all. These thoughts circled in his head as he waited for hours. Eventually, the sun began to set and the water swelled with high tide.  
  


The time alone made him think of Kairi. He tried to call her with his cell phone, but he got an automated message stating she was out of the service area. By now, she was already on the other side of the world. Sora knew that he shouldn’t call her, but he wanted to hear her voice. He wanted to tell her about what happened the night that they parted ways.  
  


There wasn’t anyone else that would hear him out the way that she did. The day that they first met, he was throwing a bottled message into the ocean. When she asked him what he was up to, he told her the story of the mysterious boy that saved him as a child. Everyone else who heard the tale believed that he had become temporarily delusional because of a near death experience, but not Kairi. If Sora said that it happened, then she believed it without a doubt.  
  


For the first time in his life, he met someone who took him at face value. It was hard not to fall in love with her. At the close of summer, he had stopped sending out messages in a bottle because he found someone who not only heard him, but actually answered back.  
  


The sound of a wet thump drew Sora’s attention to the edge of the rocks. He gave a start when he found his savior hanging from one of the boulders. Riku had leapt out of the water and used his claws to gouge into the stone and maintain himself out in the air. Once he had Sora’s attention, he gave the human a handsome smile.  
  


"W-wow," said Sora in disbelief. His entire body melted to the ground with the shock that he had not dreamed after all. "I really did see you that night. And.. and before!" Even though he knew in his heart that the boy from the ocean was real, the reality of his existence hit him like a stone wall. Slowly, as if in a trance, Sora crawled over the rocks to get closer to the merman, as if afraid that a sudden move would make him disappear.  
  


Finally, Riku was getting the reaction that he wanted. It probably helped that he looked decent this time. His hair was tied back with pearls, and he made sure that his scales were polished so thoroughly that light refracted off them as strongly as they did from the Trident itself. "Riku," he said to Sora with a gesture to himself. Then he pointed his claw at the human. "Sora."  
  


"Oh I get it, you’re trying to tell me your name," said Sora in realization. "You don’t speak my language very good, do you?" Curiously, the boy leaned over the edge of the docks just to confirm that Riku did indeed have a tail. He gaped at the long appendage that stretched out behind the mer. "I can’t believe it. You really are a fish."  
  


Riku flicked his tail to send a punishing splash of water at Sora’s face. He knew the word ‘fish’ to mean the tiny, squirming animals that humans caught on their hooks. The prince didn’t appreciate being compared to a lower life form. "No fish," he said sternly.  
  


Sora recoiled with a soft "hey!" at the splash of water. He rubbed the wetness from his face, flinching from the sting of salt in his eyes. "Alright alright, so you’re not a fish. Are you a mermaid? Merman? Geez, this is like something you’d read in a fairytale."  
  


His words only made partial sense to Riku, but the mer was already too busy with the next interesting thing to care. He reached out and grabbed the boy's ankle without warning. The prince was attracted by the sandals that the human was wearing; he tugged Sora’s leg up and removed his shoe without asking for permission.  
  


This nearly caused Sora to fall off the rock that he stood on. He landed on his bottom with a cry of alarm. "Watch it, you could hurt me!" he scolded the merman.  
  


Riku was barely concerned with the tone of Sora’s voice. The human was his plaything, after all. He placed the sandal to the side and began picking at the the boy's toes. This was the first time that he actually got a chance to touch them. What a strange, deformed fin. He wondered if Sora was aware of how weird he looked.  
  


The spot that Riku was prodding was ticklish. Sora retracted his feet, which the merman tried to grab again. This time, he managed to keep out of range of Riku’s claws. The boy gave a nervous laugh. "Will you quit that! It’s feet. Toes."  
  


Riku stared at the human.  
  


Sora rolled his eyes, and then pointed at Riku’s tail. "Fin." Then he pointed at his legs. "Feet."  
  


"Fin. Feet," repeated Riku. His voice sounded breezy; a result of having to fill his body with air and force it out to make noise.  
  


"Yeah, these are my feet, and those are your fins," explained Sora. He smiled a bit as he realized that he was probably the only person in the entire world to hold a real conversation with a merman. "Man, when my dad finds out about you, he’ll totally flip. He’ll say that you’re the scientific breakthrough the century. He’ll want to meet you and –"  
  


...And probably want to dissect Riku. Sora could see it in his mind’s eye. His dad would capture the merman and lock him in a giant pool, keeping him captive until he died. Then he would slice Riku up in hopes of figuring how out how such a creature existed and evolved.  
  


Sora’s shoulders slumped. On one hand, it would have been nice to have his father’s praise and attention for once. However, it wasn’t worth the price that it would come with. "Heh. Nevermind. My dad doesn’t need to know everything."  
  


"Dad?" repeated Riku curiously. "What dad?"  
  


The mer wanted to know what the word meant. Sora’s dark lashes lowered as he tried to think of a way to explain what his dad was to him. He remembered his father’s thunderous voice from several nights ago. The man had ranted and raved over the loss of the jet ski, but never once mentioned the fact that his son had nearly died out at sea. In the end, Sora said, "Never mind. It’s nothing really that important."  
  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


From then on, Sora and Riku always met on the far side of the beach. Sora taught the merman about his world and helped him to learn the human language. Riku was always an avid listener, but he was still an impatient mer. He was always flitting from topic to topic, wanting to know what this or that was. The prince grabbed at anything that he wanted, even if what he wanted to touch was Sora.  
  


In the beginning, his behavior made Sora feel unsafe. He learned to be careful around the untamed mer and often kept his distance from him during their meetings. Riku found this fear of him amusing, and he bided his time until he managed to catch the human off-guard and drag him into the water.  
  


The experience was frightening for Sora; he believed that the creature meant to drown him. Instead, Riku showed him how he could wrap his arms around his neck and join him on ocean rides. They skimmed the top of the water as easily as any speedboat, and they dived deep for brief periods that Sora was able to handle. Sometimes, Riku would shoot to the surface and rise into the air in an arc, treating the boy to an exhilarating ride that no human contraption was able to replicate.  
  


It was wonderful and fun. Sora got used to holding onto Riku’s slippery skin, especially when they were way out in the ocean with nothing to remain afloat but him. His trust grew, and the pain of losing Kairi became more and more distant as he learned about this new and exotic stranger that literally swam into his life.  
  


The weight of living a double life became more difficult for the prince once he began to interact with Sora. He was always tired; between his duties in his kingdom and the time spent at the surface world, he hardly slept. In an effort to relieve some of the pressure, he quickly unraveled his plan to pit the mermaids against each other so that they would disgrace themselves and leave the palace.  
  


It was a simple matter of planting rumors here and there, and occasionally stealing an item and placing it in another person’s room. Soon enough, accusations of thievery and cavorting with servants would fly, and after very public screaming matches, those mermaids were dismissed.  
  


Riku managed to whittle down the number of maidens to ten. Among them was Aqua, who he kept around for the sake of torturing her. In fact, he made it seem as if she was his favorite of them all, which earned her the ire of the remaining suitors. She was subjected to daily stares and snide remarks from the other mermaids, and it vexed her that she had to play these stupid games when she already had a chosen.  
  


Despite Riku’s cleverness, he couldn’t keep up this pace for long. Eventually he made a mistake; he forgot that he was supposed to meet with his father after dinner. When servants were sent to his room to fetch him, they found the chamber empty. Foul play was suspected and the entire palace came awake to search for the prince. The kingdom was placed on high alert for the Riku’s whereabouts, but he was nowhere to be found. No one knew that the young mer was at the surface waters, frolicking with Sora as he did at every high tide.  
  


When he returned from his trip, he found that his father was waiting for him. Triton demanded to know where Riku had been. The prince was at a loss for what to say. He obviously needed to lie, but it had to be one good enough to convince the king.  
  


Then, he was unexpectedly saved.  
  


"I apologize, your majesty. Prince Riku was spending his time with me. I do hope that our time together didn’t cause you an inconvenience," interrupted a third voice.  
  


Riku turned to see who it was that decided to stick their tail out for him. It was the female from Noctis, Larxene. Out of all the mers he selected, she was the most aggressive one of all. She was always sneaking to his room to catch him alone or challenging him to a spar. The prince turned her advances down, but Larxene never took no for an answer.  
  


Now, it appeared that he was in her debt. Riku grit his teeth momentarily, and then sang with a touch of defeat, "I am sorry father. I was embarrassed to tell you the truth."  
  


"Oh," sang Triton with a look of shock on his face. It didn’t surprise him that Riku had been out with one of the maidens, but the fact that it was one from Noctis was very disconcerting. He flared his gills briefly as he tried to collect himself. "Of course, it’s quite alright son. I guess I shouldn’t have stuck my fins into your business eh? Well then, carry on."  
  


King Triton elbowed Riku knowingly and then swam away, leaving his son to deal with the wily Larxene on his own. For now, he would let things be, but if it appeared that his son was going to choose a maiden from Noctis, then he would definitely have to intervene.  
  


Once alone with the prince, the mermaid swam a lazy circle around Riku, her well muscled, black and white tail flicking lazily. She laughed derisively as she sang, "So who were you really cavorting with, my dear prince?"  
  


"That’s none of your business," clicked Riku with displeasure.  
  


"It’s my business to know who the competition is. Why else would I be wasting my time here," she sang with a gesture to the surroundings.  
  


"If you don’t like it then you can leave," sang Riku flatly. He began to swim away.  
  


Larxene followed the prince with a knowing smile. "Could it be the Lady Aqua? No, of course not, she is already betrothed. You’re just toying with her. The other mers, they’re so smitten with you that they are boring. There’s hardly a challenge there. The one that you are sneaking off to see couldn’t possibly be them. You don’t like mermaids that worship you, so the one that interests you won't be Atlantian. But considering how every maiden in the ocean thinks of you, I suspect that the one that you are courting might not even be a mer."  
  


Riku stopped swimming. An icy chill dropped down the length of his spine all the way to his fins. He wasn’t courting Sora, but that wasn’t what was important. The fact that Larxene talked as if she knew about the human was alarming. The prince turned a venomous look at the orca. "If there was someone that I wanted, I wouldn’t have any reason to hide them. Everyone in the kingdom will know who I choose regardless."  
  


"I do apologize, dear prince," cooed Larxene. "I only wanted to see how you would react to my words. Perhaps, if you pay more attention to me, I will say less unsavory things."  
  


She touched the end of Riku’s nose and then swam away with a laugh. Riku glared after her, his gills fluttering angrily. Larxene had just threatened to let his secret out if he didn’t court her. It could have been a bluff, but there was no way to be certain as to how much the mermaid actually knew.  
  


This was bad. If his father knew about Sora, there was no telling what could happen.  
  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Aqua was floating past the hallways of the castle, distracted by her work as always. Things were becoming more peaceful as Riku masterfully chased the other mermaids away. Fewer suitors meant that there were less snide remarks and stares that she had to deal with. Now if only the prince would allow her to leave the palace, then she could return to her life and forget that this ever happened.  
  


As she passed by one of the columns, a familiar voice sang, "I heard that your tastes are leaning towards the younger merman nowadays." Aqua whirled around, and her face lit up when she saw Terra floating there with his arms across his broad chest.  
  


"What can I say," she sang back. "The more tender the meat, the easier it is to swallow."  
  


"That’s a really dirty thing to say," sang Terra with amusement. He unfolded his arms and swam closer to Aqua. The general of Lumina’s army was a very handsome mer with tan skin and a tail of gold. His hair was cropped in short layers as per military regulation, and several permanent black stains in the shape of tiger fish stripes ran down his left arm, marking his status. "Mind explaining to me why you’re wriggling yourself before the prince of Atlantica?"  
  


"Believe me, it wasn’t my idea," sang Aqua with consternation. "The prince is a spoiled mer who thinks that he can swim all over whomever he wants for the sake of his entertainment. I told him that I already had a chosen and he still forced me into this mess."  
  


"If he’s looking for a fight, I’ll be glad to give him one," clicked Terra with a note of promise.  
  


"The last thing I need is two merman fighting over me as if I was the last mollusk left after a red tide," sang Aqua in flat notes. "Besides, Lumina needs this kingdom on their side."  
  


"I know," Terra sang somberly. "In fact, that’s why I’m here. I have a message from the king. He says to keep a close eye on the prince and remain in the palace."  
  


"What?" Aqua flared her gills with disbelief at her current situation. "If I have to spend another moment with that insufferable youngling, I will go mad!"  
  


"Don’t forget that the king of Noctis is also here," sang Terra gravely. "He’s up to something. We should find out what it is and report back to King Eraqus as soon as possible."  
  


"Aren’t you the least bit worried that I might actually take a liking to the prince?" sang Aqua, even though she already knew the answer to that question. She had known Terra ever since they were younglings; the merman knew that her heart would never stray from him no matter what kind of fanciful things were dangled in front of her face. It was the high amount of trust between them that kept the merman from dashing off to teach the royal brat a lesson.  
  


"I’m more worried about the prince taking a liking to you. If he has any ounce of taste in him, he’d realize that you’re no guppy." Terra affectionately touched Aqua’s cheek. "If he bothers you, I’ll just cause a scandal. It’s your honor that’ll be tainted, after all."  
  


Aqua had raised her hands to gently cup on top of Terra’s, but upon hearing what he sang she pushed him away. "Merman," she spat at her chosen. "Only thinking about their egos."  
  


"Among other things," sang Terra with a wink. He began to swim away. "Don’t make a blowfish out of me before we’re mated. It’ll be a bad start to our life together."  
  


Aqua swatted at Terra with her tail, but missed. Of course she wasn’t going to cheat on him, there was no way that it would ever happen. Terra couldn’t care less if mers were saying bad things about her because of the current predicament, he knew the truth and he was going to mate with her regardless. It was Aqua who couldn’t stand to see her chosen loose face because of baseless rumors caused by the rude prince of Atlantica.  
  


Now she was stuck spying on Riku until this entire fiasco was over. She hoped that the prince would just pick somebody and get it over with so that she could return home to Lumina. As long as the mermaid he chose wasn’t an orca from Noctis, then there was nothing to worry about. Surely even Riku wasn’t in such bad taste.  
  


  


  
  
  
  
**To Be Continued**


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
>   
>  **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, Dubious Consent, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
>   
>   
> 

**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Four_ -

  


Riku paid more attention to Larxene as she requested. They spent more time together, often swimming through the castle gardens of luminescent algae and sparring in the courtyard. Sometimes they ate privately or made special trips through the kingdom. It made their relationship appear as if it was flourishing, which discouraged the other mermaids. The eligible candidates began to quietly leave the castle because none dared to compete with an orca from Noctis. They feared Larxene, who would treat them like discarded fish bones when no one was looking.  
  


Aqua bore witness to these unfolding events and became very worried. It truly seemed that Riku would choose an orca as his mate, which did not bode well for the other kingdoms. Everyone knew that once the power of the Trident was in the hands of the royalty of Noctis, war would be upon them all.  
  


It was a crisis that the mermaid didn’t know how to resolve. Riku needed to be led away from Larxene, but if he truly admired her then that would be difficult. Aqua had trouble managing her own love life, much less meddle in the affairs of the bratty merman. Even so, she couldn’t float idly and let this tragedy take its course. Something had to be done.  
  


That was why she waited for the opportune moment to speak with the prince. It was hard to get a word in edgewise recently with Larxene dominating all of his attention, so her chances of seeing him alone were slim. She visited his chambers during the cycle when most mers retire to sleep, but to her surprise, Riku wasn’t in his quarters or anywhere in the castle.  
  


A quick check confirmed that all of the maidens were accounted for, which was both a relief and a concern. She was thankful that the prince wasn’t out cavorting with Larxene, but apprehensive that there was possibly another mer out there that had not been introduced to the court. The fact that Riku would keep it a secret meant that it was not a good match.  
  


Her search for the prince eventually came to an end when she spied him swimming to his chamber at an inappropriate time of the cycles. She flattened her gills as she watched his mannerisms. The prince was being extra quiet and careful as he began to push the stone door aside. He was definitely hiding something.  
  


"Prince Riku," she sang to him.  
  


Riku paused in the middle of what he was doing. He gave Aqua a cool look for interrupting him. It was obvious that she had been lying in wait considering the time and how she was emerging from a hidden alcove. "Have you finally decided to attempt to seduce me?" he answered in guarded notes.  
  


"I have a question for you," sang Aqua, ignoring the way that Riku was trying to bait her. She swam over to where the prince was floating, careful to keep the decorative fins on her back lowered so that it didn’t appear as if she was propositioning him. "Have you decided on a mate yet?"  
  


"What’s this all of a sudden?" Riku turned his sinewy body to face hers. "You act like you don’t care about these things, and now you ask me this private question."  
  


"Don’t misunderstand, I am not asking because I am interested in you," scoffed Aqua. "I’m asking because the safety of my kingdom and others beyond hang in the balance. Who are you seeing when everyone else is asleep?"  
  


The prince sang a low note of laughter. "You really want to know?" he clicked. Riku drifted closer to the mermaid, his aquamarine eyes bright and sharp as he got in her face. "Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you everything."  
  


Aqua’s gills flared as she floated backwards until her dorsal side met the smoothed rock of the palace walls. She glared daggers at the prince for asking something so bold and fresh. "How dare you," she hissed. "I have told you several times that I have a chosen!"  
  


"He doesn’t have to know," sang the prince in dark notes. "You want private information, so you have to give me something private too. A secret for a secret. You can show me with your mouth why so many mers desire you."  
  


"You enjoy this don’t you," seethed Aqua. The violet fins that lined her arms went erect, exposing sharp tines that would cut with a mere touch. "You like to break others for the sake of your own entertainment."  
  


"There isn’t a single mer in this water who wouldn’t give their tailfins to be in your position right now," answered Riku smoothly. "Everyone secretly wishes to be dominated by me. Give in, and you can have your wish come true."  
  


Aqua shrieked with outrage and smacked the prince across the face with her palm. She wanted to use her claws badly, but the small shred of sense still left in her was enough to prevent a bad situation from turning worse. Making a mark on royalty would surely lead to terrible punishment. "There will come a time, youngling," she sang stiffly, "that you will break something that actually matters to you. And on that day, I will pity you for being such an arrogant fool. You think you can have anything in the world, but love and loyalty will never be yours."  
  


Riku lightly touched the cheek that Aqua had struck, moving as if he was in a dream. After a few moments, he clicked, "This is the first time that anyone has laid a finger on me outside of a spar." His lips curled into easy smile, one that displayed his sharp teeth. "Thank you. I realize now how much I like this feeling of pain. Now I know why mermen desire you."  
  


Those words confused and sickened Aqua. Just what exactly was the prince saying? Why would he enjoy pain? She made a noise of disgust as she flicked her tail to swim away at a fast pace. "You and the orca are suited for each other," she hissed at Riku.  
  


The prince watched the mermaid swim away, still wearing that easy grin. Aqua was so bold and unattainable. Riku always wanted the things that he couldn’t have. He was sorely tempted to make her his mate for the principle of it. If only it wouldn’t cause his father so much trouble.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


One day, Riku took it upon himself to bring Sora to the secret place where he stored all of his human things. The cave was accessible underwater, but the first time that they tried to journey there, his friend was nearly injured from the force of the currents that threatened to drive their bodies against the rocks. It took some time before another crawlspace leading to the cavern was found at the shoreline, allowing the boy to visit.  
  


The natural chamber was a dangerous place. In the daytime, its interior was illuminated by sunrays that broke through small openings along the ceiling. Moonlight did the same, but with it came high tide. The cave was completely inundated during the evening hours, making it uninhabitable for an air-breather. When the water level was low, a shelf revealed itself from the receding ocean. Sora would perch himself on top of that rocky outcropping and wait beside the natural pool for Riku. The mer would swim up to the air pocket to spend time with him until the place flooded and forced him to leave.  
  


Coming to the cave became a regular ritual for them instead of meeting by the docks. It was more secluded and they could act more freely there. Riku expected Sora to be in their secret place whenever he surfaced and would become irritated if the human wasn’t there. On those occasions, the boy would be greeted with a splash of water to his face for arriving late.  
  


Sora learned to take the mer’s rude behavior in stride. He saw the prince’s outbursts as the childlike reactions of an ignorant being. If Riku understood that he had to attend school, eat at home and spend time with his friends, he was sure that the merman wouldn’t be so angry when he was away for too long. However, these were things that were lost in translation, especially when Sora attempted to explain them while the mer was too angry to listen.  
  


Thankfully, the times when they got along outnumbered the instances when they didn’t. Sora began to feel close to Riku, and sometimes he would talk about the difficult things that were happening in his life, regardless if his companion could understand or not. These often one-sided conversations always made him feel better.  
  


Riku tried to understand what it was that his companion was saying, especially when the topic was about the surface world. Sora was charged with the duty of explaining the various human items that the mer had amassed. Sometimes the boy would laugh until his sides ached at the ridiculous things that the prince found interesting, such as toenail clippers or lost tubes of lipstick. Other times it was sad to explain why there were beer bottles and plastic wrappings in the water. It was hard to convey the concept of pollution and ignorance to Riku, and he was never sure if his friend really grasped what he was trying to say about those things.  
  


It was bittersweet when the merman began to present the bottled messages that Sora had thrown into the water over the years. The boy was amazed that his friend managed to keep so many intact. Some of the papers were still salvable, and the merman would listen raptly as he read what they said.  
  


They eventually came across a message that Sora wrote nearly six months ago. Its existence made the boy laugh emptily. He was reluctant to read it out loud, but the mer urged him on until he finally gave in. His voice was melancholy as he read the old letter: "Today is a great day. I met someone who actually believes that you exist. Her name is Kairi and she’s beautiful. No one has ever believed in you the way that I do until now. It’s almost like fate. It’s because of you that I feel close to her."  
  


Riku listened intently with his arms folded on top of the rocks and his tail submerged in the water. He understood that the letter was about him and the mate that Sora had chosen, but he couldn’t discern why it caused sadness in his human. He urged for further explanation with a sharp look from his eyes.  
  


The letter crinkled as Sora rolled it up in his hands. He said quietly, "She was my first girlfriend. We did everything together. I even gave her my virginity. She was older than me by a year, so she knew a lot of things, but she never treated me like I was stupid. I really felt like I had a friend in her." Warm tears began to prickle at the corner of his eyes. "She tried to call me, and my dad answered the phone. He told her that I was busy and hung up on her. You know how hard it is to call someone when you’re on the other side of the world? She probably won’t get another chance for a long time. My dad is so stupid, he doesn’t even know that I was dating her."  
  


Riku was alarmed by the tone of Sora’s voice and his body language. It seemed that something happened to his human’s mate. In a way, it made him glad because it meant that the boy could spend more time with him. His sadness, however, wasn’t something that he would wish on him.  
  


"My friends were so jealous that I was with her," continued Sora. "I kind of ignored them for a while. She was my world. Now she’s gone, and the only one who’ll listen to me about her is you." He hunched over the message in his hands, as if weighted down by his own sorrow. "I’m really pathetic. I can only tell my problems to a fish."  
  


The prince narrowed his eyes, and then he unfolded his arms and pushed himself out of the water. He dragged his heavy tail onto the rough land so that he could be at Sora’s side. "No fish," he said in a breezy and quietly stern voice. Riku took one of his friend's hands and pressed it against his chest so that he could feel the rapid cadence of his heart. "No fish," he repeated, and then he returned the same hand to the boy’s own chest to feel the slow pound of his human heart.  
  


Sora understood what Riku was trying to say. He smiled wanly and relented with a quiet, "I get it. No fish." A sigh escaped his lips, and when he looked over at the mer, he found that he was giving him an intense gaze from only a few inches away.  
  


Memories of Kairi flooded Sora’s mind. She had been so good to him from the very beginning. He remembered their first kiss and the first time that they made love. At the age of 16, Kairi already had a wealth of experience with lovers, and she took Sora under her wing and treated him like a king. They did things that were normal and they did things that were wild. Despite how much her father tried to control her, Kairi was a free spirit.  
  


His relationship with her made him feel like he mattered. At home, his parents were too busy with their jobs to care about what he did with his life. There were times when he wanted to flaunt his relationship with Kairi to his mother and father, to show them that he was growing up and they were missing it; that he no longer needed them or their opinions. He was in love and every time that their bodies touched he was breaking their rules and blazing a path of independence away from them.  
  


Without Kairi, all of that was taken away. He felt lost and he didn’t know what to do. Sora found himself sliding back into his routine life beneath his parent’s rule. Nothing new ever happened and his family still treated him the same. The only thing that changed was the breathtaking loneliness that he now carried and the complete and utter loss of intimacy.  
  


Riku gave him a glimpse of those few glorious months that he had with Kairi. He saw in the merman the same free spirit that he saw in her, and the attention that the prince gave him was akin to the way that she used to fawn over him. The oddness and secrecy of their companionship gave it a special feeling; once again, Sora found something that mattered and made him feel as if he was breaking away and achieving his own freedom.  
  


The prickling at the corner of Sora’s eyes stopped. He didn’t feel like crying anymore and was content instead. Nevertheless, a tear slipped from his lashes as its weight coaxed it into falling. Riku was fascinated by this happenstance. How could humans make water like that? He leaned in and touched his tongue to the boy's cheek to taste it.  
  


"Hey!" protested Sora. The mer's action surprised him so much that he gave a little jump. "Don’t lick me!"  
  


Riku responded by placing his hands on Sora’s shoulders to make him stay put. He wasn’t done investigating yet, especially since that tear tasted like pure ambrosia to him. How could he get the human to do that again? The prince wanted to have more of that tasty liquid. He thoroughly laved Sora’s cheek to scrape up all traces of the water into his mouth.  
  


"I said stop!" cried Sora. He turned his head to get Riku away from his cheek, but he quickly realized the error of this move when their mouths touched. It hardly counted as a real kiss, but it was the first time that anyone else had touched him there since Kairi. For a moment, the ache that Sora carried with him lifted as his body remembered the comfort of another’s touch. That fact alone stunned him into silence.  
  


Riku stopped when he felt the brush of Sora’s lips and the resulting stillness of the human. He knew what the sudden tension in the boy’s body meant. The prince was unsurprised; after all, he was the most handsome mer in all of Atlantica. Mated or not, it was inevitable that his friend would find him attractive, even if they were from different species.  
  


These vain thoughts fed Riku’s pride. Wouldn’t it blow the mind of every mer to know that their crown prince had broken a deep unspoken taboo and mated with a human? The mere idea of it tantalized him. How would he even go about it? What did they do for sex? Would Sora forsake his previous mating and perform the act with him?  
  


To experiment, Riku pressed his lips insistently to Sora’s mouth. The human tried to recoil, but the prince trapped his face in place by firmly placing his hands against the sides of his head. It felt amazingly warm, as if the boy's body was generating the same kind of energy as the ball of light that rose above the water. _Sun_ , that was the word that had been taught to him. Sora was as warm as the sun.  
  


The sensation was completely different for the boy. Sora recoiled because the kiss was unexpected and cold. Riku’s body was just as chilled as the water it came from. He somewhat expected a fishy flavor, and the thought of that made him laugh internally. However, Riku merely tasted like the salty ocean, and he was just as relentless as the waves.  
  


Sora placed his hands on the mer’s chest to push him off, but his traitorous fingers felt numb as he remembered raising his arms up to hold Kairi. He wanted fulfillment, and the worst part was that he knew that his ex would be alright with this. She wanted him to be free to give himself to anyone he wanted because she loved him. Between that knowledge and the yearning in his body, it was hard to say no.  
  


_What would Kairi do if she were me?_ wondered Sora. Adventurous, experienced and adoring Kairi. A girl that had seen and done many things before meeting him. She had been with women as well as men. Her lovers were all precious memories that she liked to openly talk about.  
  


In the end, Sora decided that he would make his own precious memory, one that he hoped to share with Kairi someday. He knew that she would be proud of him and maybe a little jealous over what he was about to do. The boy took his hands off Riku, which surprised the merman enough to make him pause. Riku watched curiously as Sora tugged on the edges of his swim shorts until they lowered, then roughly grasped his cock and balls with two hands.  
  


"I’m going to teach you a new word," said Sora huskily. He squeezed himself wantonly, his eyes glazing over as he gazed at Riku’s face. "The word is, penis."  
  


"Penis," repeated Riku with an arched brow. He remembered seeing that thing before, and he was just as unimpressed now as he was back then. It mildly interested him as it began to swell and grow, but it was still no match for the average size of a merman. The prince gave Sora a wicked look as he said, "Small."  
  


"Least I have one," retorted Sora. "Are you sure you’re not a mermaid? You’re pretty like a girl."  
  


"Show me penis," said Riku. He wanted to know how it worked for humans. Was Sora going to drag it around on the ground like a lonely dolphin? To the mer’s eyes, it was so short that he couldn’t fathom what they did with those things.  
  


"Alright," said Sora, and then he smiled. He took one of Riku’s hands and guided it down to his genitals. Carefully, he opened the mer’s hands and showed him how to wrap the fingers around his shaft. "Don’t scratch me," he warned Riku. It wouldn’t be pleasant if his dick got gouged by the other’s claws. Then he applied pressure to his friend's hand to coax his grasp into squeezing, and showed him how to move his palm up and down.  
  


Riku was amused at what the boy wanted him to do. With such small penises, it was no wonder that humans could only do this much. Luckily for Sora, he was a fast learner, and soon he was moving his hand without assistance. He could feel pulsing against his palm and he marveled at the loose skin that followed his strokes and briefly wrapped over the pink end of the shaft's head.  
  


Once his friend mastered jacking off, Sora reached for his balls and rolled them in his hands. Riku’s movements were making them jiggle in a way that had him breathing deep with pleasure.  
  


"What is?" asked Riku. He was eyeing what Sora was doing with curiosity.  
  


The boy bit his lower lip to help compose himself, and then he answered throatily, "Testicles."  
  


"Test-tee," repeated Riku, stumbling over the syllables. "Kals. Test-tee…"  
  


Sora laughed and reached up to affectionately touch Riku’s cheek. "It feels hot because of you."  
  


Some of Riku’s bemusement melted. As silly as Sora moved, his euphoric face told how much he enjoyed the prince. His cheeks and nose were flushed red, and his eyes had dimmed to a deep blue that rivaled the night sky. The mer was unexpectedly spellbound by this human’s desire. He lightly touched the other's pale lips with his free hand, knowing that the hot gasps that puffed over his skin was an experience that no other ocean dweller would know. Saliva stretched across the red and pink spaces of Sora’s mouth, and Riku leaned down to dip his tongue inside to taste it.  
  


He found that human teeth were blunted and safe to graze. Sora was considerate of his exploration and did not close his jaw. Instead, he carefully sucked him in and rolled the appendage against his palate with slow, deliberate strokes. Riku found that human kisses were comparable to mers, with the exception that the tongues did not flow as deeply into the throat.  
  


The prince’s wet hair spilled over his shoulders in a spiral veil as he drank from Sora’s mouth. There too, the taste of moisture was divine. He became so distracted by it that he forgot to play with Sora’s cock, which caused his human to groan in frustration and insistently remind him to move with a squeeze of his hand.  
  


This action displeased Riku. How long was this human going to make him service him? The prince was used to being waited on, not the other way around. He released Sora’s cock and vainly flipped his hair over his shoulders. The merman leaned away from the boy and narrowed his eyes to an expression that said: Entertain me, because you are boring me.  
  


Sora deflated at the lack of physical contact and the look on Riku’s face. Just like that, he was reminded that this wasn’t his loving and attentive Kairi that he was dealing with. No, this was Riku, suffering from some form of merman ADHD with a dose of jackass on the side. The boy huffed. "Riku, sometimes you can be a complete jerk!" he complained.  
  


The merman smirked at Sora. While the human ranted, the scales at the front and center of his tail slid sideways to grant exit to his own very long and prehensile cock. It stretched upwards towards the ceiling, towering over both of their heads. "Penis," he said with a note of superiority.  
  


Sora’s eyes widened as they tracked up the long pink appendage that Riku was flashing at him. "You’ve got to be kidding me," he said weakly.  
  


While Sora stared in disbelief at Riku’s dick, the merman snatched him up in his arms. He was alarmed by this, because there was no telling his friend was going to do with something that long. The boy struggled to be freed, but the prince kept him firmly pinned against his chest with his claws.  
  


The fear in Sora’s eyes was a great source of amusement for the prince. He turned his human so that his back was against his chest and his legs fell to the sides of his tail. This position allowed Riku to enjoy the heat that came from the other's body, and it gave the boy a clear view of what he was planning to do with his "penis."  
  


"W-wait!" said Sora in a panic. "What are you going to do with that?!"  
  


The prince merely smiled deviously as he lowered the sinewy cock down to Sora’s stomach. It slipped beneath his t-shirt and traveled up his chest, leaving a wet, sticky and cold trail everywhere it touched. The boy arched away from that crawling sensation, his entire body shuddering from the horror of it.  
  


"Cut it out, this is too weird!" yelled Sora. The appendage continued to creep upwards until it popped out of the collar of his shirt and wrapped around his neck. The boy stilled, afraid that he was about to be choked to death, but the long cock remained loose around his Adam’s apple. Then he gasped when he felt its very tip probe the corner of his mouth. He turned his head away when he realized what it was that Riku wanted him to do. _No way!_ he shouted in his mind. Sora kept his lips firmly pressed together. _I don’t want that thing in my mouth!_  
  


Riku laughed at the show of reluctance. As his human turned away, he met his tightly pressed lips with an open mouthed kiss. Sora didn’t fall for the distraction, however. He kept watching Riku’s cock with wide eyes, unable to tear his stare away from what it was doing. It peeled away from his cheek and segmented its tip, its parts separating into a four cornered flower of pink flesh. A very thin, delicate white tendril with a bulbous tip stretched from its center and waved in the air as if searching for something. The boy shook as it probed along his face like a careful, slow centipede.  
  


"It good," crooned Riku in his breezy voice. "No bad." He nuzzled Sora’s face tenderly, and then quickly let go of one of his arms so that he could force his jaw open. Caught completely by surprise, Sora yelped, the sound turning into gurgles when the cock was forced in. The boy's first instinct was to bite and spit the feathery soft petals tickling his tongue, but Riku had the foresight to wedge his fingers against his teeth to prevent him from clamping his jaw shut.  
  


Sora tossed his head in an attempt to get that thing out of his mouth. His newly freed hand clutched uselessly at where it wrapped around his neck, finding that he only caused it to dangerously tighten. His heart was pounding a mile a minute. The boy was afraid that Riku was going to hurt him. What if the merman forced his cock down his windpipe? What if he ripped a hole in his mouth? So many horrible scenarios presented themselves in his mind, and it was all he could do but cry as Riku had his way with him.  
  


"No bad," repeated Riku, the humor leaving his voice when he saw how terrified his human had become. He took himself out of Sora’s mouth and brought the boy’s other hand up to where he had wrapped his cock around his neck. Just as it had been done to him, he showed the human how to pet it with his fingers. "Good penis."  
  


Some of Sora’s fright receded when Riku took the time to let him get acquainted with his cock. Slowly, his mind’s perception shifted. This wasn’t some alien thing that was out to attack him; it was a part of Riku. As long as he kept reminding himself of that, he felt less afraid. He turned his eyes over to the mer, wanting to see that they had some kind of understanding between them. "You’re controlling it completely?" he asked.  
  


"No hurt," said Riku quietly as he kissed the wetness away from Sora’s cheeks; his tongue darting every now and then to gather up more of their taste. His claws lightly grazed Sora’s lip in silent request for the human to open his mouth once again.  
  


Sora was reluctant, but eventually he dared to part his lips. The appendage eagerly made its way back inside, and he closed his eyes to endure the tickling against his tongue. This time, Riku didn’t need to hold his teeth apart; the boy was very carefully keeping his jaw lax to allow the mer to enjoy himself.  
  


Riku’s gills flared soundlessly. If he was submerged, he would have been singing with pleasure. Without the water to carry his notes, the only indication that he liked this was the dreamy expression on his face. The prince wrapped his human in a tight embrace as he thrust his member quickly in and out of his mouth; the friction tanning the boy’s lips to a heated pink.  
  


The speed that Riku moved was unexpected and Sora ‘mmphed’ around the appendage in protest. Its tip had closed up to protect from damage, and then it unexpectedly burst open with a rush of water. The liquid had a fruity taste to it, which the boy reflexively swallowed before choking on the rest. Thankfully, Riku had the presence of mind to remove himself from his human’s mouth before he drowned him in his seed. The clear ejaculate continued to spout from him like a hose, thoroughly drenching his friend's shirt and crotch.  
  


"Ugh," groaned Sora in disgust. He spat the remainder of the fluid from his mouth and gave his soiled clothing a disdainful look. "Are you happy now?" he said dolefully to Riku.  
  


Indeed, the prince seemed very content. He kept Sora trapped in a bone crushing hug and nuzzled his brown hair with an expression of bliss on his face. It made the boy a little angry – Riku had achieved his satisfaction, but he was left bereft. His cock had gone completely flaccid from the ordeal and he was unwilling to try getting hard again.  
  


_Kairi was better_ , he thought bitterly to himself. She always finished what she started and met him need for need. The selfish way that Riku took advantage of him left him feeling cold inside.  
  


Almost an hour passed before Riku finally decided to slide back into the water to replenish his tail's reservoir. Sora took that opportunity to wash his face and clothing as best as he could. Once he made himself look mostly presentable again, he muttered a goodbye and crawled his way back to the shoreline. He hardly bothered to look at the mer in the eyes.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


At first, Riku was very pleased with the act that he committed. He felt personally vindicated over the fact that he made a blowfish out of all the simpering, fawning mermaids that were vying for his attention. Although it was a secret that could never be revealed, just holding on to the knowledge of what he had done was satisfying in and of itself.  
  


As time passed, however, the original feeling of self-empowerment began to curdle. Sora wasn’t meeting him at the surface anymore. Riku would wait at the secret place and patrol the shoreline, but there was no sign of his human. He made the dolphins speak to the birds in hopes of gaining more information, and as it turned out, the boy wasn’t hurt or in any danger. He was merely living out his life the way humans do.  
  


The prince was being avoided, and he couldn’t understand why. Was Sora not satisfied in some way? Perhaps he had been too forceful when they mated. If only the human would just speak to him, then they could clarify any misunderstandings. It was frustrating that the boy could hide away so easily; whenever Riku wanted something, all he had to do was send a servant to fetch it. This was the first time that he ever had to chase anything on his own.  
  


Everyone close to the prince noticed that he was on edge lately. They believed that it was because of the precarious situation with the maidens. Larxene had successfully run off every last suitor with the exception of Aqua. The lady from Lumina was the only mermaid who was able to withstand the orca’s cold nature. Years of war between their kingdoms fueled the intense animosity that was directed towards each other.  
  


It was the perfect situation for Riku. He was waiting for the day that they would both disgrace each other and leave the castle, then he would be able to postpone having to choose a mate indefinitely. All he had to do was bide his time for the opportune moment to roll the tide to his favor.  
  


To this end, he was always inviting both mermaids to spend time with him together as a trio. Entertainment always consisted of competitive games that brought out the worst in Larxene and annoyance from Aqua. It took time, but after several cycles of careful maneuvering, Riku finally managed to bring their tension to a head.  
  


He brought the two mermaids to the sparring area. It was his intention to make them fight each other, but Aqua coolly declined when he initially suggested that she spar against Larxene.  
  


Luckily, the orca gave him the opening that he needed. Larxene sneered derisively at Aqua’s refusal and clicked, "I don’t know why you waste your time on that weak mer. She has no skill whatsoever."  
  


"Don’t mistake my refusal to spar as a sign of weakness," sang Aqua coolly. "I simply have better things to do than to indulge the prince in a fight among his maidens."  
  


"That’s a mean thing to say," Riku clicked innocently, despite the fact that it was absolutely true that he was instigating this fight for his own entertainment.  
  


"Why don’t we cut to the chase," sang Larxene. "If you’re not here to indulge the prince, then you should leave. It is obvious that I am the one that he will choose."  
  


Aqua grit her teeth. Riku was the last mer in the ocean that she would ever desire, but she remained in the castle in hopes of somehow dissuading the prince from choosing Larxene as his mate. Ever since her altercation with the merman, she had made very little progress on that front. "Is that true?" she questioned Riku testily. "Have you already chosen?"  
  


Riku lowered his lashes, hiding the sly look that was in his eyes. "I’m at an impasse. The both of you have qualities that I admire. Larxene brings up an interesting point, however. The one that I chose should not be weak." He fixed his aquamarine eyes on Aqua. "If one of you defeats the other, then I’ll cast her aside for the stronger one."  
  


Larxene threw her head back and laughed shrilly. In her opinion, that all but guaranteed her mating with the prince. She couldn’t see Aqua as anything more than a weak mermaid that was easily defeated in battle. "I accept that challenge," she sang gleefully.  
  


Aqua gave the prince a deathly serious look. He met it unflinchingly. She couldn’t believe that the prince was making it this easy. All she had to do was defeat Larxene, and then Noctis would lose all prospects in gaining the Trident. It was a risky gamble, but Riku played the game well. He knew that Aqua wouldn’t turn down this opportunity.  
  


"Very well," acquiesced the mermaid. "I also accept this challenge."  
  


"The winner will be decided by whoever is disarmed first," sang Riku smoothly. "My weapons are available to you both. The finest ore shaped by the deep ocean vents." The prince gestured to the side of the sparring area, where weapons of various shapes and types awaited their choosing. Atlantica’s stockpile came from underground volcanic rock that had been purified in superheated vents and smelted into the desired shape. As a result, the weapons were as colorful as the mers themselves, some of them gleaming a bright blue crystal, whereas others were as black as an abyss.  
  


Larxene wasted no time gathering her favorite black daggers from the stockpile. Aqua took much longer to peruse the weapons available. She slowly floated past the selection until finally settling on a long, slender sword that held a translucent violet tint. Its edge was tested against the silt of the floor, which parted as easily as if it had the same consistency as the water that surrounded them.  
  


Riku was eyeing Aqua with a predatory gleam, obviously enjoying this new sharp side of her that he managed to uncover. The mermaid could feel his stare, and she gritted her teeth in response to it. _Don’t get the wrong idea, prince_ , she thought to herself. _I’m doing this for my country_. The sword in her hands was leveled at Larxene. "Come!" she clicked sharply.  
  


Larxene sang a battle cry as she burst into a fast swim towards Aqua. She was as vicious in a fight as she was in social situations; quick to jab and pierce at weak unprotected areas with her weapons as well as her tongue. However, she was unaware that there was a very good reason why the captain of Lumina’s guard chose Aqua to be his mate. She was as calm as still waters as she met Larxene’s blows, and skillfully dodged and parried with as little wasted movement as possible.  
  


"Is swimming around the best you can do?" taunted Larxene as she tried to cut Aqua’s fins with her weapons.  
  


The mermaid narrowly avoided injury by twisting away from the attacking dagger and parrying the second with ease. Aqua leveled her gaze at the orca and answered coolly, "I am giving you the chance to surrender."  
  


Larxene sang in outrage at the mere thought of losing to her rival. She swam at the mermaid dead on, but this time Aqua didn’t dodge. Instead, she grabbed the orca's wrist and used her momentum to swing her around. As they spiraled around each other, Aqua took advantage of the confusion to use her sword to disarm the dagger in Larxene's free hand. Then she beat her tail to reverse the spin and forcefully twist the captured wrist until it released the second dagger. By the time their movement stopped, Aqua's sword was angled at Larxene's throat.  
  


"Bravo," sang Riku. He spread his showy dorsal fins to their full span to demonstrate his approval. "Lady Aqua wins."  
  


"Impossible!" sang Larxene. She wrenched out of Aqua’s grip and nursed her injured wrists. "How can a mer fed kelp on a crystal rock fight like that!"  
  


"I trained alongside my chosen for ages long before we decided to mate, despite the fact that I was a mermaid," clicked Aqua seriously. "I wanted to face his trials with him, even if it meant that my own life would change."  
  


Larxene flared her gills with a derisive sound. "A shame that he will die when Noctis razes Lumina to the ground!"  
  


Aqua grit her teeth and moved as if to strike Larxene for her impudence, but Riku chose that moment to interrupt.  
  


"A deal is a deal, Larxene," clicked the prince. "I’m afraid that it’s time that you returned home."  
  


Larxene spun to face Riku. "This isn’t over!" she sang acidly at him. "I know your weakness. If you deny me, then I will expose you!"  
  


"No one would believe the lies spewed from an orca," answered Riku coolly. "Do you really want to make yourself look more like a fool than you already do?"  
  


"You will pay!" threatened Larxene. "Mark my words!" With that, she quickly swam away, clutching her wrists to her chest.  
  


Aqua watched the mermaid go, and then she leveled her gaze at the prince. "What is she threatening you with?" she questioned.  
  


"Nothing important," sang Riku airily.  
  


"It’s about your lover isn’t it," pressed Aqua. "You’ve been seeing someone. As selfish as you are, you’ve probably already mated. She’s going to expose your scandal."  
  


"The only scandal I know of, is the fact that my chosen mate already has been promised to someone else." Riku swam over to Aqua, invading her personal space easily. There was a wicked look on his face as he cooed in sweet notes, "Are you going to kiss me now that you finally have me all to yourself?"  
  


The answer was swift. Aqua attempted to backhand Riku again, but this time, she didn’t manage to make contact. Instead, Riku caught her wrist mid-swing and held it in a firm grasp. "Do you really think that I’ll let you do that twice?" he clicked.  
  


"You forget that I am holding a sword in my other hand," seethed Aqua.  
  


"Run me through and you’ll have outright war on your hands," sang Riku. "But I see a different future for us. One in which you run off with your original chosen and permanently leave this castle."  
  


Aqua’s eyes went wide with realization. "You planned this all along. You wanted me to win this spar knowing that I would disgrace you by leaving."  
  


"Win-win, wouldn’t you say?" sang Riku. He let go of Aqua’s wrist and began to swim away. Once the scandal unfolded, the mers would assume that he was devastated by the loss. That was the excuse he needed to postpone finding a mate. The sand was falling exactly where he wanted it.  
  


"As I suspected, you couldn’t care less about any of those mermaids," Aqua clicked to the retreating Riku. "Which begs the question, who is the one that has your attention, and why haven’t you presented this mystery mer to the court?"  
  


"Who knows," sang Riku airily. He twisted in the water lazily, displaying all of his white fins in slow, rotational movement. "Maybe it’s another orca."  
  


Aqua gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. There was no telling if Riku was serious or not. Until she verified who the prince’s lover was, she couldn’t leave the castle and return to Lumina.  
  


"By the way, keep the sword," added Riku. "Consider it an early mating gift."

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Larxene left the palace as planned, leaving Aqua as the sole candidate for mating. King Triton was greatly disturbed by this development. Everyone knew that Aqua was already spoken for; Atlantica’s ties to the Lumina kingdom were in peril if a dispute arose.  
  


The king decided that it was time to speak to his son. He summoned Riku to the throne room and greeted him warmly, and then launched into a long speech about responsibility and sacrifices.  
  


At first, Riku endured it, but when it became obvious that his father wasn’t getting right to the point, he interrupted. "Father, if there is something that you’re trying to say to me, then please do so," he sang. "I’m old enough to understand."  
  


Triton hesitated, and then he straightened his spine and finally said what was on his mind. "You should dismiss Aqua from the palace. She is not the right one for you, son. There are too many political barriers that are against your favor."  
  


Riku kept up a façade of calm while internally he boiled with anger. Even though he was planning to be rid of Aqua anyway, it upset him that his father was putting his nose into his personal business. "I thought that choosing a mate meant following my heart," he answered evenly. "Even if there are barriers, if my heart desires it, why cast it away?"  
  


"I struggled with the same thing when I was your age," sang Triton sagely. "You are royalty, my son. As a result of that, our happiness must come second to the happiness of our people. That is what it means to have great power. If someone with selfish desire were to possess the Trident, then all mers would be in peril."  
  


"Don’t you ever get tired of it?" questioned Riku. His hands fisted at his sides. "Having to set aside yourself for the sake of strangers?"  
  


"I am proud to carry this mantle," sang Triton. "So long as I remain true to the people, I have their loyalty and their love. Someday, you will have those same things, and you will understand why making the sacrifice is negligible in the end."  
  


"I understand, father." Riku’s teeth were starting to grind. "I have to think about this." He gave the king a bow, and then he swam out of the throne room.  
  


Triton looked worried. There wasn’t anything that he could do to shield his son from reality this time. He thought that he had prepared the prince for the inevitable truths of being born a royal, but now he wasn't so certain.  
  


As Riku swam through the hallways of the palace, a voice sang out to him from behind one of the columns:  
  


"Sacrifice yourself for the sake of strangers? Give up on love? As if! Sounds like a load of sponge to me."  
  


The prince stopped propelling himself forwards and turned to the mer addressing him. Floating nearby was the scarred Braig. The orca wore a bemused expression on his face as he clicked, "You’re not really going to do what he wants, are you?"  
  


"It’s none of your business," retorted Riku, and then he resumed his swim.  
  


"You should come to Noctis," continued Braig despite the growing distance between them. "You would like it there. Our royalty run free, doing anything and everything they please. We even allow our orcas to visit the surface world."  
  


Those words stopped Riku dead.  
  


"If an orca so wished, they could even consort with a human," added Braig. Then he widened his uncovered eye and clasped his hands over his mouth. "Oh my, I just said a taboo didn’t I? Naughty me."  
  


"You’ve been following me," clicked Riku icily.  
  


"That’s such a harsh way to put it. I’m merely looking out for the well being of the prince of Atlantica," answered Braig. "No hard feelings, right? Besides, don’t you want to know what your human has been up to?"  
  


Indeed, Riku did want to know. Badly. He twisted to give Braig an expression that said that if he didn’t cough up the information, then the prince would personally rip it out of him.  
  


"It’s such a drag, really. You could have used the Trident all along to know what’s going on at the surface world, but your silly father insists on using it – oh what’s that word he likes to use – responsibly. Things are different in Noctis, of course. If there’s something that needs to be seen, then we’ll see it."  
  


To demonstrate, Braig lifted the shell patch off the scarred side of his face. The eye that was hidden beneath it glowed with gold color, and then it projected a beam of light outwards. Riku quickly swam out of the way and beheld that within the light, there was a vision of Sora. He was someplace on the beach, and he was holding hands with a human female.  
  


The orca clicked in disapproval. "Looks like he’s already moved on to another mate. His first one left him, but I guess that’s not a big deal for humans."  
  


Anything else that Braig had to say fell on deaf ears, because Riku suddenly swam away at top speed.  
  


"In a hurry now are you," clicked Braig. He pushed the shell patch back into place, and the vision from his eye faded away. "Heh. The only place you can get everything you want is in Noctis. Won’t be much longer until you realize that."

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sora had not been to the beach in weeks. Ever since that day with Riku, he avoided the shoreline like the plague. At first, it was because of the indignation that he suffered. Later on, his reason became self-disgust. What did he expect from fooling around with something that had a fish tail? Even if the mer was sentient, he could barely comprehend what they talked about half he time. There was no way to know if he even understood the significance of what they had done.  
  


Finally, his feelings turned into shame. What right did he have to use Riku that way? Even if the merman seemed all for it, the act was still implicitly wrong. His friend was half animal, after all. It was not natural to do those kinds of things with him.  
  


In the end, Sora decided that he had to move on. He needed a real girlfriend and a real relationship. Even if it was only to replace Kairi, he had to force himself to meet other people just so the wound in his heart would heal. He realized that his desperation for companionship caused the fiasco between himself and Riku. If that was what he wanted, then it might as well be with a willing girl rather than something not human.  
  


That was why he was with Olette now. She was a nice girl that was in the same class as him. Unlike Kairi, she was reserved and shy. The more that he got to know her, he suspected that she was probably a virgin. Sometimes they would go to her house and his mind would supply him with all the possibilities of what that meant, but they always ended up just watching TV or doing their homework.  
  


Sora didn’t mind. He honestly still felt dirty after being with Riku and was hesitant to be intimate with someone else as a result. Besides, Olette’s innocence was endearing because it made him think of what it was like when Kairi met him. He was probably a lot like her, completely naïve to the secrets that the body could hold. Imagining himself in Kairi’s shoes put him at ease.  
  


Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid the ocean forever. His father was pressuring him to go out on the research ship, and finally he relented. Olette walked him to the beach, and he held her hands and kissed her cheek before boarding his father’s vessel. Once aboard, he edgily scanned the water with his heart in his throat for Riku, but there was no sign of the merman. Maybe he gave up on visiting after being stood up for so long, or maybe he was just as disappointed in Sora as he was in him.  
  


The memories of that awful day put Sora in a brooding mood. He dragged his feet as he did his duties on the ship while his father monitored the radar for the presence of dolphins. There was a pod about 50 nautical miles offshore, and that was where they were going to weigh anchor and perform the recordings.  
  


Sora’s father noticed his son’s bad mood, and he said to him in an amused voice, "You’re that mad to spend a Saturday with your old man instead of hanging out with your girlfriend?"  
  


"You would be the same way," said Sora quietly.  
  


"Son, let me tell you. Girls are a dime a dozen. You might think that the one you’re with now is the best thing since sliced bread, but I guarantee you that a year from now you’ll barely remember her name."  
  


Sora gave his father a glare. "Mom is just a dime a dozen, huh."  
  


"No no, that’s not what I’m saying." His father pulled his gaze away from the radar for just a half second to give his son a stern look. "There’s no way you’re going to find the right one when you’re a teenager. You’re just not mentally ready. You have to be a man first before you get the right woman."  
  


"So I’m supposed to be single until I’m what, 40 years old, then I’ll be man enough to have a real girlfriend?" asked Sora testily.  
  


"That would make your mother happy," said his father with a laugh. "Just don’t get too attached to those girls you’re with now, and for gods sake, don’t get them pregnant."  
  


Sora gave his father an angry stare. The man was too busy watching his radar as if it held all the secrets of life to realize it. He wasn’t surprised that this was his dad’s version of "the talk," which was coming too little, too late. Not for the first time, Sora wished that he was old enough to be on his own so that he could be away from the annoying man.  
  


They spent a few minutes in silence; Sora silently stewing while his father continued his work. His dad put on his headset to listen to what the microphone was picking up, and then frowned. He adjusted some of the dials on the control panel, and when that didn’t satisfy him, he pulled his headphones aside and looked at his son. "Have you been playing with my equipment?" he questioned.  
  


"No," said Sora sullenly.  
  


"Come here for a second," beckoned his father. When his son obeyed, he handed over the headset. "Listen to this."  
  


Sora placed the headphones over his ears. He could hear the usual echolocations of the nearby dolphin pod, but there was something else that was coming in very strongly. It sounded like a human voice, and it was saying the same thing over and over.  
  


_Sora. Jerk!_  
  


His eyes widened.  
  


"Isn’t that something?" said his father with bemusement. "The ocean hates you today."  
  


"Very funny," answered Sora nervously. He handed the headphones back and waited until his dad was distracted to run to the prow of the ship. Once there, he placed his hands on the guardrail and leaned over so that he could frantically scan the water's surface.  
  


"Riku?" he called as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to attract his father’s attention, not that it was easy to grab in the first place. "Riku, is that you?"  
  


A few moments later, the mer surfaced. The expression on the prince’s face was thunderous. Riku learned of Sora’s current location from the dolphins, and he knew from their previous conversations that this boat was used to listen to underwater conversations. He decided to give his wayward human an earful, and that was only the beginning of all that he wanted to say.  
  


The determined anger on Riku’s face made Sora realize that he was probably every inch the jerk that the merman claimed.  
  
  
  
**To be continued.**  
  
  



	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Five_ -

  


Riku didn’t get a chance to confront Sora until the ship docked. The human had plaintively told him that they would talk in their secret place as soon as the first opportunity arrived. Until then, the prince kept a sharp eye on the boy from the water, promising retribution should he attempt to abandon him before he’d had his say.  
  


As promised, Sora crawled into the hidden cavern and took his place at the edge of the natural lake. He kneeled on the hard rocks and peered into the shadows of the pool. Riku surfaced moments later, and the first thing he did was to send a punishing wave of water at the human.  
  


It soaked Sora instantly, rendering him cold and shivering in the damp air. The sheer childishness of it nearly made him turn and walk away, but he stayed because he wanted to give Riku a piece of his mind as well, regardless if he understood or not.  
  


"I get that you’re angry," said Sora as he scrubbed the water from his face. "I shouldn’t have left you without saying goodbye, or at least explaining first. But you can’t seriously say that you don’t know my reasons. We can’t be together. I belong here and you belong over there. Land, and water." He gestured emphatically at the ground beneath him and the water that the mer inhabited. "What we did last time wasn’t right, and to be honest, I didn’t even like it at all. I tried to replace someone else with you, and it didn’t work. Do you understand that?"  
  


Sora looked at Riku intently to discern if the mer had any comprehension of his words at all. In truth, the prince understood things partially; he gathered that his human was sending him away because he regretted their mating and that he was unsatisfied with it somehow. The word "replace" didn’t translate very well, but that didn’t matter to Riku. He knew enough to know where the boy was going with this.  
  


The prince gritted his sharp teeth as he experienced rejection for the first time in his life. He could feel something painful in his chest twisting and breaking with the human’s every word. There was a kingdom full of mers that worshipped his every turn in the water, but here in the dry air, there was a creature that dared to defy him. His pride chafed and he ached with agony.  
  


How dare he. How dare this human reject him! In a fit of anger, Riku surged forwards and dug his claws into Sora’s thighs. The boy responded with a yell of pain and a fruitless attempt to remove the talons by grabbing the mer’s wrists. His flesh was the leverage for the prince to rise up out of the water, his aquamarine eyes blazing as he sang in his native language:  
  


"Why? Why do you turn away from me? I do not care if you are human. I do not care if this is taboo. Why are you not loyal to me as I have been loyal to you since the moment that I laid eyes on you!"  
  


As soon as Riku finished hissing, he realized what it was that he just said. He sank back into the water slowly, stunned at himself for uttering those words. _Am I confessing to this human?_ he wondered in horror.  
  


He was. The pain in his chest told him the truth, and the realization dragged him down. Riku had fallen for his human a long time ago, perhaps even the moment that he first saw him. The prince always feigned loyalty, but it was never as real as the way that he faithfully sought after Sora. For the first time, there was something that he wanted that actually mattered, and it was sheer irony or perhaps fate that it was the one thing that was the most elusive.  
  


The prince unlatched his claws from Sora’s skin. Red blood swelled in the places he’d gouged, mocking him with the reminder that humans were different. Riku’s own blue blood would never be as warm or bright. The mer folded his arms over the boy's lap and lowered his head against his legs in despair.  
  


Sora didn’t understand anything that Riku said. The angry swoops and clicks meant nothing to him, but the expression on the mer’s face was enough. When the prince released him and lowered his head, the boy exhaled the breath that he had sucked in to steel against the pain. With alarming clarity, he realized that a breakup was a breakup no matter what; that it hurt his friend as much as it would to any human.  
  


The mer’s childish and violent reaction wasn’t a complete surprise. Sora knew that he was dealing with fire by daring to have relations with an unknown creature from the sea. However, the way that Riku buried himself in his lap reminded him sharply of how he felt when Kairi ended their relationship. It made him realize that somewhere in the mer’s selfish heart he might actually have real feelings towards him; feelings that he unintentionally hurt.  
  


Tentatively, Sora wrapped his arms around Riku’s shoulders and leaned over him. He pressed his cheek on top of his friend's wet platinum hair and said soothingly, "This is my fault. I started this. I was so lonely that I used you. I’m sorry Riku. I’m sorry that I hurt you."  
  


They stayed huddled against each other until Sora had to leave. He gently slid Riku’s arms away from his legs and gave him a sad smile as his companion sank back into the water. No promises were made as to whether he would return to visit the prince or not. Every time he looked at the dried blood on his legs, he felt apprehensive about everything.  
  


Relief flooded the boy when he crawled out of the secret place and began the journey home. It made him feel better to remove himself from the situation. Once he put a good amount of distance between himself and the ocean, he stopped to look over his shoulder. He could see Riku’s figure perched on a rock a couple kilometers from the shoreline. Sora implicitly knew that the mer would always be watching for him there, and his feelings of reprieve turned to guilt.  
  


Indeed, his friend found the highest perch over the water so that he could see where his human was going. He shouldn’t have put himself so far out in the open, but in that moment he didn’t care. The prince wanted to show Sora that he was brave enough to be there, and he silently challenged the boy to do the same.  
  


While Riku peered intently at the shoreline, Splash swam close by. She circled the rock as she clicked to the mer, "I am growing worried about you, prince. Your fondness for that human is growing without restraint. You must abandon him soon; you are growing much too old to be chasing fantasies."  
  


The prince didn’t spare the dolphin a look. He kept his gaze fixed on the horizon as he sang, "If he were a mer, I would have him. It wouldn’t matter which kingdom he was in or how dangerous the alliance would be. If he were in these waters, he would be mine."  
  


Splash was stunned by the prince’s declaration. She blew water from her air hole to indicate how absurd Riku’s words were. "You can not! You can not love him Riku. Not a human. Your heart will be broken."  
  


The prince did not listen.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


"So you played into the prince’s hands," sang Terra with a touch of amusement.  
  


Aqua kept fanning the ridged fins that decorated her arms open and shut; the old habit betraying the agitation that she felt. "I’ll admit, my pride chafes over it. He’s as slippery as an eel."  
  


Terra curled his fingers under his chin in thought. The fact that Riku wasn’t interested in any of the mermaids that he invited to the palace was a good thing, but it was still disturbing to think that there could be one other that they did not know about. "All we need to do now is find out who his lover is and then we can finally get you out of that castle."  
  


"I have tried following him many times," clicked Aqua. "I always lose him when he swims through the kingdom."  
  


"Leave it to me," sang Terra. "Tracking is my specialty."  
  


Riku may have been adept at shaking off pursuers, but Terra was good at following retreating enemies to their hiding places in order to fully eliminate them. Together, the couple bided their time for an opportune moment to follow the prince, and it wasn’t long until their patience was rewarded.  
  


As always, Riku stole away while everyone in the palace was asleep. Aqua and Terra carefully shadowed him through the water, but there came a point where he simply vanished from view due to the complicated twists and turns he made through the underground caverns and flora. Instead of continuing on blindly, Terra shook open a seaweed pouch at his side. A tiny clownfish floated out of it and stretched out its fins.  
  


"Nemo, can you track him?" Terra asked the creature.  
  


The young clownfish waved his fins to direct the water into his nares, and then he answered enthusiastically, "Yes, I can smell the prince. This will be easy."  
  


"Let’s go then."  
  


Although Riku wasn’t visible, the trio were able to follow his winding route through the city of Alantica; a trail which eventually turned into an upwards course towards the darkness above. Higher and higher they ascended, pressing on despite their rising concern over the direction that the prince was taking. The ocean water around them became pierced with ghostly plumes of light, and eventually they reached the barrier between water and air.  
  


"I’m scared," clicked Nemo. "His smell leads all the way up." Unwilling to go forwards anymore, the fish swam back into the pouch at Terra’s side.  
  


"That foolish prince," sang Aqua with a touch of unbidden awe. "He’s been surfacing all this time."  
  


"Let’s not stop here," clicked Terra. "I want to know how far this mystery goes." He reached out for Aqua’s hand, and with a shared look of trust, they both broke through the surface of the water for the first time in their lives.  
  


The light was breathtaking and warm. Creatures they had never seen before swam overhead in a blue expanse and wind quickly dried their faces. Aqua clung to Terra’s arm as the waves jostled them with force.  
  


"Look," clicked Terra. He pointed towards the distant shoreline. Aqua’s eyes squinted, and when she saw what her chosen was looking at, she flared her gills in alarm.  
  


There was a human standing on an outcropping of rocks. Riku was over there, scaling the side of the moss-covered stones to meet with him. Once they were together, the prince reached up to tenderly touch the boy's face.  
  


The mers dived back underwater after bearing witness to that private moment. A stunned silence stretched between them as they processed what they had just seen.  
  


"I used to think that humans were just fairy tales," sang Terra after getting over his shock.  
  


"This is a travesty," clicked Aqua. "No one will want to mate with the prince when they discover that he’s consorting with a human. The power of the Trident will vanish with King Triton’s death. Noctis will surely overtake Atlantica at that moment. It took all of the king’s life to sire even one male mer, it’s next to impossible that he will have another."  
  


"He is just a foolish youngling after all," mused Terra.  
  


"Terra," piped up Nemo from his bag. The clownfish nosed its way partially out of the sack. "I smell an orca."  
  


That immediately put them on guard. Terra searched the vicinity and found what Nemo was talking about: There was an orca floating at the surface, his tail lazily swishing back and forth to maintain his equilibrium. He gestured for Aqua to follow him and take cover behind underwater rocks where they could both hide and observe.  
  


"He’s spying on the prince," sang Aqua in quiet notes.  
  


"More than spying. Gaining leverage," added Terra darkly. "They’ll have the prince under their thumb with this kind of information."  
  


Aqua blew out her gills in exacerbation. "Why is the prince such a fool? He has everything that any mer would desire at his fins. Is his life really that unsatisfying?"  
  


"The same could be said for you," answered Terra. He turned to look at Aqua directly. "As a lady, you have a comfortable life that any mermaid would give their dorsals to have. Wealth, beauty and power are your birthright. Yet instead, you choose to learn how to fight and defend the kingdom at your own risk. Was your own life really so unsatisfying?"  
  


"You keep bringing up this conversation as if it is going to change my mind about my decisions," clicked Aqua coolly. "I am going to fight beside you whether you like it or not."  
  


"I’m only saying that you and the prince have a lot in common," sang Terra with a touch of amusement. "Both of you are stubborn, unsatisfied hammer fish."  
  


Terra narrowly dodged a swipe of Aqua’s claws in response to the comment that he made. Aqua did not like being compared to the spoiled prince, but she had to grudgingly admit that she could understand his feelings somewhat. "Do you believe that he truly cares for that human?" she sang quietly.  
  


"I don’t know," answered Terra. "We’ll have to keep playing his game to find out what the orcas are up to. You’re in the best position to counter any blackmail they may cause."  
  


Aqua flared her gills with a huff. "The only person that I feel sorry for in this situation is that human."

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


In the end, Sora broke up with Olette. He didn’t want to cause her the same grief that he caused Riku. She was sad because of it, but it was better than letting the relationship progress to the point where it got physical. The boy was determined to remove the complications in his life, so he resolved to remain single for a while. That included spending less time at the shoreline so that he could gradually drift away from the friend that he had in the ocean.  
  


It didn’t work out that way. Guilt kept drawing him back to the water, where he would find a very available and very willing Riku. There was no doubt in Sora’s mind that the mer wanted him badly, which was both flattering and tempting. Their dynamic had changed since the day that the prince showed his true feelings. Now, the mer was more gentle and attentive. He showed through his actions that Sora’s needs did matter, and little by little, the human was drawn to that promise of companionship and pleasure.  
  


The prince had purposely changed his behavior because he made up his mind that he was going to seduce Sora. Riku wanted his human to desire him completely. It was a true courtship unlike the farce that he presented to his own kingdom. This was the first time that he ever put his effort into something wholeheartedly, even at the risk of the damage that it would cause his own heart. Thoughts of the boy consumed him to the point that his lovesickness was noticeable. His people believed that it was because of Aqua, but they were all completely wrong.  
  


Winning Sora’s trust wasn’t an easy task. At first, the human avoided meeting in the secret place. He would only speak to Riku at the less intimate docks, much to the prince’s frustration. Many tides passed as he struggled to rebuild their friendship, and once that was established, he worked to fan the the boy's lust. There were caresses, touches and kisses that made his friend breathless, yet he would not come into the water or hide away with the mer to continue what they were starting.  
  


Riku finally broke Sora when he discovered that his feet hid the most sensitive points of his body. Kissing the spot in the middle of his arch made the human jump and inhale sharply. Nibbling each toe with light enough force to prevent his sharp teeth from breaking the skin had his friend glowing red in the face and squirming with one hand over his crotch. After many failures, the mer found the sensual leverage needed to coax Sora into the cave.  
  


Luring the human back to intimacy was Riku’s crowning achievement. He swam circles in excitement before entering the secret place and waiting at the lake’s edge. Sora approached the water with intentions to consummate, but he was so reluctant that he could barely gather the strength to take his shorts off. The prince made the decision for him as he eagerly pulled himself onto the stone shelf and roughly shoved his human's pants down to his ankles. He wrapped one of his clawed hands around the boy's cock and wheezed a playful "I learned" as he jacked him off.  
  


Sora fell completely under Riku’s spell and sank to his knees with abandon. All the worries of daily life vanished into blind pleasure, just as it had been when Kairi claimed him. He said yes to so many things that she wanted, and he found himself saying yes again as Riku extended his long dick from his tail. The boy even sat down on his bottom and opened his legs, inviting the prince to do as he pleased.  
  


Although he was willing, the appearance of the prehensile member made Sora apprehensive. He hoped that this time Riku would reciprocate his needs. The boy touched his friend’s face and pawed at his well-toned chest, pleading with his eyes that this time the mer would satisfy him. It was a look that pleased the prince; that desperate, wanton lust assured him that he was still the most handsome and powerful royal in the entire ocean. Riku had every intention of sating the human so deeply that he would never desire another creature.  
  


His long member wrapped itself around one of the boy's tanned thighs like a smooth pink rope. Sora licked his lips, believing that it would rise up to his mouth again just as it had before. This time, however, it curved over his cock, forming a question mark shaped loop whose end pointed at the mushroom shaped head of his penis. Its tip segmented open and the delicate, paper thin tendril with a small bulb halfway down its shaft revealed itself.  
  


Riku was now working very carefully. The frustration of mating a human was in not knowing where to properly place his seed or take his pleasure. Sora’s mouth had been adequate for him, but his friend was dissatisfied with that experience. Every creature had a way to give and receive, and he was determined to map the secrets of the boy's body and reap its treasures. There had to be a place where Sora received. He would not accept that it was impossible. The mer's strong drive to dominate his human shoved reason aside and rejected the thought that a union was completely impossible.  
  


_There_. Riku would try there. He carefully dipped his tendril down into the first hole that he found, directly into the head of the boy's cock. The reaction was instant: Sora inhaled sharply and shouted "Wait!", his hands immediately moving to rescue himself from an unnatural penetration. Unfortunately, the mer was faster. He snatched the human's wrists and held them firmly to prevent interruption. It was sheer ambrosia to have this sensitive and intimate part of his body slowly feeding into that small channel, until the bulb popped past the head and slid a few inches inside.  
  


This wasn’t the first time that Sora experienced something like this. Kairi was not the type of girl that only liked to receive. She had reaped his virginity with sounds and dildos, to the point that he felt that there was nothing else to give and nothing left to learn. He let her have all of his body willingly. Now, for first time the boy saw that there were still new adventures to be had; that there was still trust that could be forged and shared. Yet it was very difficult to give Riku that trust.  
  


_Is it because of him?_ thought Sora to himself. _Or is it because of me?_ Either way, he didn’t want to hurt Riku again. He didn’t want to make someone that he considered to be his friend angry or disappointed. So he resigned himself to the situation, and when he did, the first jolts of pleasure began firing a path from his cock to his ass, leaving his legs as weak as jelly. _It feels good_ , was his last thought before he was taken to a place of pleasure that he believed only Kairi could send him to.  
  


Riku continued to sink into Sora’s body until the open ends of his member swallowed around the human’s penis. His eyes closed as natural suction tugged at Sora’s short shaft in search of a mer counterpart, but due to the difference in their species, that was not going to happen. The boy was definitely enjoying it; he had stopped fighting their union and was now bridging his entire body for more. Inside of their connection, Riku was feverishly stroking his bulbous wet tendril up and down inside of the urethral shaft that he found. His human’s screams were so loud that he was sure even the dolphins could hear it; a thought that gave the prince a vicious sort of satisfaction.  
  


Although it was pleasurable, this act did not bring Riku to the crest the way the boy's mouth had. He craved that culmination again, and he was as envious of Sora’s throes as he was proud of himself for causing them. It was unexpected when his human suddenly let out a guttural grunt and jerked involuntarily. Riku felt his sexparts become flushed with liquid, and he immediately detached his member from the other's due to his surprise.  
  


Pearlescent white liquid arched from Sora’s distended urethra in a fountain that sprayed his stomach and dribbled down his shaft and balls. It left thick globs that clung to the slim thistle of Riku’s cock. The orgasm had been so intense that the boy turned on his side and curled in on himself with a whimper.  
  


The human seed intrigued the prince. It was beautiful and pure. The mer brought his own member to his lips so that he could sample the taste of it, and once the flavor touched his tongue he nearly consumed himself with the eagerness to have more of it. Like his friend's tears, this essence was addicting and delicious. When Riku could find no more of it on himself, he prowled over the boy's body and laved at the places where the ejaculate fell.  
  


Sora’s skin felt so electrified that he could not take more stimulation. He pawed ineffectively at Riku to push him away, his toneless arms doing little more than to softly bat at the hungry prince. The mer pried his legs apart and licked his balls, making the boy jump and attempt to turn out of his side-lying position to draw away. There was little he could do, and Riku eventually engulfed his softened cock with his mouth and sucked deeply until there was nothing left.  
  


"N.. no more," pleaded Sora. His dick was hardening slightly, but he felt tired. He placed his hands on the mer's bobbing head, trying to get him to stop. "Please.."  
  


Riku released Sora from his mouth, but only because there was none of that delicious seed left. He licked his lips as he looked up at his human with hungry eyes. The prince wasn’t done taking his fill yet. His friend had reached his end, but he did not. This was not going to be over until the mer had what he wanted.  
  


The boy shivered with cold and a sudden feeling of emptiness. He missed Kairi. Sora missed the way she loved him. "Can you hold me?" he asked quietly.  
  


"Hold?" wheezed Riku. The word was foreign to him; the human had never used it before.  
  


"Hold me," repeated Sora almost desperately. His strength returned as a different sort of need moved him. He reached for Riku’s arms and pulled them up around his waist. The boy wiggled down so that the mer's face was snug against his chest instead of against his crotch, and he embraced his friend. "Like this," he whispered.  
  


The prince did not understand how a simple hug would bring either of them pleasure. Moreover, his human seemed to be winding down from his high and settling into contentment. That was all well and good, but Riku impatiently wanted to reach the same state. Despite his thoughts, the mer obliged Sora and held him close, but his tail gave a little flap for every long minute that he was kept bereft. Finally, he gently scratched his claws at the edge of the boy's mouth and hovered his cock nearby, indicating that he was ready to finish.  
  


Sora laughed softly and took hold of Riku’s squirming penis. He bit down his apprehensiveness and trusted that his friend wouldn’t hurt him, just like the last time. The boy opened his mouth to grant the appendage entry, and it immediately surged inside and moved in a controlled frenzy against his palate and tongue. His eyes watered, but thankfully Riku didn’t go down into his throat. When the mer’s fruity seed burst forth, he swallowed what he could before coughing and spitting the excess amounts that he could not hold in.  
  


Riku’s gills fluttered soundlessly when he finally received his satisfaction. His aquamarine eyes became lidded and his movements turned lazy. He retracted his member back into his body; now he was ready to embrace his human. The prince swept his tail between Sora’s legs and curled it around his bottom so that his tailfins were flush against the boy’s midback. He crossed his arms around his friend's torso and curled his claws in, threatening to gouge into soft flesh if Sora decided to leave before he was given permission.  
  


The boy sighed at his predicament, but he was too tired to do anything about it. Besides, it was nice to be treated as if he was wanted. Sora eventually closed his eyes and dozed off, too sated to care that his face was against the hard stone of the ground or that Riku had him in a near death grip. What mattered in that moment was that he didn’t feel alone.  
  


When he next opened his eyes, the sun had already set. Flood waters were filling the cavern and Riku was slinking his way back into the pool. Sora watched the mer disappear into the depths, but before his companion went too far, he was suddenly inspired to ask:  
  


"Hey, Riku?"  
  


The mer resurfaced upon hearing his name. He looked at Sora expectantly.  
  


"Do you know what the word love means?" asked Sora. "Does it exist where you live?"  
  


"Love?" wheezed Riku. "What love?"  
  


"It’s.." Sora struggled to find a way to describe it. Love was both wonderful and consuming. It was an emotion that made his heart beat fast and get weak in the knees. He felt full when he had it and crushed when it was gone. "It is.. something that people feel with each other. A special feeling."  
  


"No understand," answered Riku. His limited vocabulary prevented him from comprehending what his human was trying to say.  
  


Sora was disappointed, but he forced a smile despite that. "It’s alright. Maybe someday you’ll know what I mean."  
  


Riku braced his claws against the rocky outcropping and used his upper body strength to pull himself out of the water. He met the boy's lips in a brief, chaste kiss, and after a long lingering look, he sank back into the depths and swam away. Sora was left to stare at the empty pool, and then he began the lonely task of cleaning his body and gathering up his discarded shorts and underwear. He checked his penis to make sure that it had survived their coupling and found that it was no different than when Kairi sank her sounds into his body.  
  


Even though she had given him her blessings to find love again, Sora couldn’t help but feel as if he was betraying her. He realized that in that very moment, she may already be with someone else and sharing the same pleasure that she had with him. By releasing him from his fidelity, she was doing the same for herself. That thought made him sad.  
  


_I am doing everything you wanted me to do, but it’s not making me happy. What am I doing wrong, Kairi? Why can’t I be like you? Why can you be happy without me?_  
  


With a heavy heart, Sora made his way home.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The palace was quieter without the horde of maidens taking up all of the guest chambers. With Larxene gone, only Aqua remained as a suitor. She expected Riku’s taunts and overbearing flirtations to increase tenfold, but it quickly became clear that the prince had lost his taste for it.  
  


Riku’s mind and heart were gone. They existed on the surface waters, far and away from the responsibilities of his kingdom. Meeting with the prince was a waste of time; even though they floated at the same table and shared the same serving of kelp, Aqua might as well have been invisible. It was obvious that her host had no care for her company whatsoever.  
  


Instead of attending to Aqua, Riku wondered why Sora didn’t share his sexual appetite. Although he managed to claim the human, there were times when he was denied access to his body. His lover kept asking to be embraced and that seemed to satify him, but the mer wanted to mate more. He wanted to seed Sora and drink from the nectar of his body. The prince craved that taste, and sometimes he would surface for the sole intention of taking the boy into his mouth until he was thoroughly milked. The finest food of the kingdom was spread out before him, and yet it all tasted like silt from a sulfur vent compared to the flavor of his human.  
  


As Riku mulled over his love interest, Aqua covertly watched him. Then she let go of pretense and outright stared at the prince. She wasn't noticed at all, so she hummed through her gills to get the mer’s attention, and when that didn’t work, she sang his name.  
  


"Riku."  
  


That broke the prince from his trancelike state. He shifted his eyes over to his forgotten guest. "More food?" he inquired distantly.  
  


"How long do you plan to keep up this act?" asked Aqua plaintively. "You have as much desire for me as you do for a bowl full of live jelly fish. This is insanity."  
  


"Shall I send you away then?" sang Riku with boredom.  
  


"That wasn’t your plan," chided Aqua. "You wanted my chosen to fetch me so you would appear emotionally wounded and put off your mating indefinitely."  
  


"Then you should be asking your chosen what’s taking him so long. If he values your fidelity then he should show his face," answered Riku dryly.  
  


"He won’t," sang Aqua, "because if I leave, then the orcas will make their move against you. We know, Riku. We know what it is that you do when the castle sleeps."  
  


The prince suddenly went very still. His eyes gained an edge of anger as he regarded Aqua. Riku was infuriated that someone managed to break through his bubble of privacy and know his most intimate secret. "You," he seethed.  
  


"I am not against you," sang Aqua quickly before the prince could finish his thought. "Nor am I for you. Riku, you are the crown prince. Don’t you care about your own people at all? The Trident will forsake your bloodline if you do not bear a son."  
  


"That’s none of your business," answered Riku coolly.  
  


"It became my business when you dragged me into this charade," clicked Aqua tersely. "What are you going to do about the orcas? Surely you are aware that they are watching you."  
  


"They’re enjoying the show as much as you are," sang Riku. "Do you want to know what I am going to do to the human next?" His lips twisted into a leering smile.  
  


"Riku!" Aqua scratched her claws against the table for the sake of not doing the same to the impudent prince. "Stop behaving like a stray youngling with no birthright. What you are doing is madness. You can’t possibly believe that a human would ever love a mer. You have no future with him!"  
  


Riku’s leer faded into an indescribable expression. He turned his face away from Aqua to allow his freely floating hair to obscure it. "I don’t need the love of a human. I am only playing with his body," he answered neutrally.  
  


"Is that true?" sang Aqua in quieter tones. "Are you really that careless, or is your heart truly that dark?" The mermaid closed her eyes in her attempt to rein her emotions in. She was angry, appalled, and so very disappointed. "If this is the real face of the one and only son of Atlantica, then all was lost the moment that you were born."  
  


Riku reached across the table and gently, but firmly, tipped Aqua’s head up with the crook of his finger. He boldly looked into her eyes as he sang, "If you want peace between the kingdoms, then you will declare yourself as my mate."  
  


Aqua jerked her face out of Riku’s grasp with a hiss through her gills. "How dare you! That will not solve anything. The orcas will reveal your secret regardless of who you are pretending to be mates with."  
  


"Without proof, it’s just a baseless rumor. Who would believe that the crown prince is consorting with humans? That’s the stuff of fairytales. The orcas will be the laughing stock of the ocean," sang Riku. "What mers will believe is that their favorite royalty has stolen the heart of a noble mermaid away from her chosen. That is a story that will keep their imaginations tamed for cycles to come."  
  


"I refuse!" clicked Aqua loudly.  
  


"Then the situation with the orcas can’t be helped," sang Riku airily. "You can stand up for your kingdom or you can stand up for your chosen. You decide."  
  


With that, the prince swam away from the breakfast table, leaving Aqua to mull over the terrible choices that were left to her. Terra could storm in and steal her away, leaving Riku to appear jilted but open to blackmail by the orcas, or she could go along with the diabolical plan and pretend to be his mate, but tarnish her chosen’s reputation and potentially hurt his trust.  
  


_Dangerous_ , she thought to herself. _This game is too dangerous, Riku. Gambling with the hearts of others will only lead to sorrow._  
  


  


**To be continued.**


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Six_ -

  


Aqua did not have a lot of time to make her decision. Within a few cycles of being issued an ultimatum, an announcement was made to the entire kingdom: All mers were to gather at the palace grounds because the prince had something important to say. Anticipation rose among the subjects of Atlantica; they believed that the Lady Aqua would be announced as Riku’s mate, and therefore, become their future queen.  
  


The King was still against the union. He lectured his son on the consequences of allying with Lumina and how it would affect their people, particularly if they were called to war with Noctis, but his song was never heard. Riku remained steadfast in his plan to serve his own wishes.  
  


As the time drew near, Aqua steeled her resolve and came to a decision. She tried to gain an audience with Riku to tell him her answer privately, but the prince refused to meet with her. The next time that they would see each other would be in front of a massed crowd of subjects. Obviously he wanted to make a spectacle out of their feud, and the mermaid had no choice but to play his game.  
  


Servants were sent to Aqua’s chambers to prepare her for the gathering. They dressed her bosom with white shells and draped the crown of her head with sea leaves and pearls. Her body was painted with bioluminescent colors that accented the natural gradient of her tail and fins. When they were done their work, she looked every bit the part of a maiden about to be announced as the prince’s chosen.  
  


She was ushered through the corridors of the palace. Sebastian swam next to her, and he was beside himself with worry over the details of what was going to transpire.  
  


"Now m’ lady, when da blowfish begin da sounding you must remembah t' swim forwards t' present yourself t' da public," instructed the crab.  
  


"Those are ambiguous directions," sang Aqua wryly. "There are the blowfish in the orchestra and the one wearing the silver crown."  
  


Sebastian gasped when Aqua referenced what Riku would be wearing on his head. "Now you see 'ere!" he began pompously, and then added in a lower note, "Even tho’ it be perfectly true." The crab ahemed and resumed his lecture. "Dat is no way to be talking about da crown prince. After all, you accepted de proposal."  
  


"Accepted the proposal?" sang Aqua incredulously. Her indignation stopped her swimming so fast that Sebastian floated into her. The mermaid bent over to leer at the reeling crab. "Who said anything about accepting?"  
  


"Whad?!" The eyes at the end of Sebastian’s stalks widened. "You canna be serious! Da announcement is happening in less dan a cycle and you still haven’t made up yo' mind?"  
  


"Oh I’ve made up my mind. But the prince isn’t going to like the answer," sang Aqua coolly. Then she turned and resumed her swim towards the grand hall, leaving the crab to freak out on his own.  
  


Meanwhile, mers were gathering for the announcement with a hum of excitement. Everyone was gossiping about the fact that the prince was choosing a mermaid who was already betrothed to another. It was an unbelievable scandal that they were all going to bear witness to.  
  


King Triton did his best to change the prince’s mind up until the last moment, but it was to no avail. He came to the decision that in order to stop his son’s foolishness he would put an end to the announcement. The only reason that he let it go on thus far was his hope that Riku would come around on his own; that once he was face to face with his own people he would realize how disastrous it was to put his own wishes before the needs of the kingdom.  
  


He watched his son intently as they arrived grandly on a massive shell drawn by stingrays. On cue, the members of the orchestra sang through their gills and music was created through complex vibrations created from tapping strips of volcanic glass and various fish of different sizes and shapes adding their unique clicks and hums to the harmony. Sebastian was conducting with a wave of his claw, performing flawlessly despite his feeling of dread.  
  


Riku stretched to his full length and fanned the dorsal wings of his back. The crowd clicked and sang in approval as the prince lorded over them, bathed in the luminous light of Atlantica like a great serpent of the sea. When the noise died down, he sang loudly for all to hear:  
  


"Mers of Atlantica, it is with great joy that I make today’s announcement."  
  


King Triton’s expression fell. Even now, Riku was going to continue? He suddenly felt as if he didn’t know his own son.  
  


"My heart has found love, and I wish to share this love with all of you today," continued Riku. He gestured towards the palace. "I bid you all to meet my chosen."  
  


Aqua’s claws were digging into the flesh of her hands. The guilt and humiliation of this moment would have been unbearable if it had not fueled her rage. With a flick of her tail, she revealed herself from behind the doorway where she had been waiting. There were excited murmurs and some claps of approval from the audience, but she hardly registered them. Her eyes were on Riku only as she ascended towards him, ready to follow through with her own speech.  
  


King Triton also had his own agenda. Unable to wait any longer, he floated forwards and opened his mouth, ready to take control of the situation.  
  


"I challenge Prince Riku."  
  


Notes of shock went through the crowd. Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, an interloper interjected first. All heads turned in the direction of the voice and gaped in shock at who it was. Only the prince maintained his composure as he gazed coolly at the front of the crowd, where a golden mer with military stripes looked back at him with determination.  
  


"Terra!" exclaimed Aqua in disbelief. They had previously agreed that challenging the prince was not an option; it would only serve as a point of contention between their kingdoms. She couldn’t believe that he was doing this now.  
  


"You wish to challenge me?" clicked Riku coolly. "Over Lady Aqua?"  
  


Terra withdrew his sword from its seaweed sheath on his back. It was leveled at the young prince with an air of certainty. "It’s only appropriate. She is my chosen."  
  


The prince waved at one of the guards who responded by swimming over and passing on his sword to Riku. Without another word, the prince swam down to meet Terra at his level.  
  


"This is madness!" clicked Aqua. She turned to face Riku’s father. "Why do you stand by and allow this happen? This is unnecessary!"  
  


"You are wrong, my dear, this is very necessary," sang King Triton somberly. "Riku brought this upon himself. It is time that he learned that actions have consequences."  
  


Aqua blew out her gills at the fact that nothing was going to stop the honor match. She briefly thought of swimming between them, but decided that in the end it was probably better if both merman knocked each other on the head until sense was beaten into their brains.  
  


The merman circled each other like a pair of sharks preparing to frenzy. Riku smirked as he kept his aquamarine eyes trained on his opponent. "I accept your challenge. I can’t rightfully make her mine without severing her from her past first."  
  


"If you think that winning will make Aqua yours, then you’re more of a sponge than I thought," retorted Terra. He darted forwards with a quick whip of his tail and attempted to wound the prince's arm. His attack was diverted with a riposte that grazed his wrist. Blue blood spilled from the scratch.  
  


Terra stoically switched his sword to the opposite hand. "I see that you have no intention of throwing this match," he sang in low notes that only the other mer could hear.  
  


"I don’t lose," answered Riku simply. Even if allowing Terra to win would accomplish everything that he had been scheming for, his pride would not allow him to make this an easy fight. He surged forwards and slashed his sword in an intense barrage of strokes to drive his opponent to the sea floor.  
  


Terra was ready. Although the prince had natural talent, he lacked experience. He fought how any typical youngling would: with his pride. It made his moves transparent and predicable to the warrior. Blocking the flurry of strikes was easy, and disarming Riku afterwards was easier. Terra parried his opponent’s sword and grabbed the mer’s wrist with his wounded hand. He used his powerful tail to swim in a circle and cause the prince to spiral with him. Upon achieving the right momentum, he released his hold and sent his rival crashing into the castle walls.  
  


The crowd sang notes of horror when it happened. Riku lost the grip of his sword upon impact and Terra was quick to claim it for himself and aim it at the prince’s neck. King Triton started forwards upon seeing his son pinned, his Trident glowing as furiously as he felt.  
  


Riku glared at Terra, and then feigned laughter. "I guess I couldn’t have expected to win against the Captain of Lumina’s guard," he clicked.  
  


"You lost this fight because you don’t love her," sang Terra in flat notes. "A youngling like you couldn’t begin to understand that."  
  


"I understand fine," hissed Riku. "You’re the hero of your own fairytale romance."  
  


King Triton stopped swimming forwards upon hearing his son. The expression on his face revealed how stricken he was. "Is that why," he sang in low notes, before raising his tone for everyone to hear. "That is enough. Captain Terra is the winner of this match. Take Lady Aqua and go."  
  


Terra lowered the sword away from Riku. He returned his weapon to its sheath and jabbed the one that he had taken from the prince into the silt floor. A respectful bow was given to the king. "I am sorry for the trouble I caused. My heart compelled me," he sang. Then he swam over to Aqua and took one of her hands. "Let’s go," he clicked quietly before tugging her away.  
  


Aqua was speechless as they swam away from the palace. Their pace was quick, as if they could somehow out swim the ramifications of what just transpired. They reached the borderlands of Atlantica, where the mermaid stopped and pulled her hand away from Terra.  
  


"Why did you do that?" she hissed. "You have damaged the potential for any alliance between our kingdoms! I could have handled it myself, there was no need for an honor match between you and the prince."  
  


"I couldn’t take him disrespecting you anymore," returned Terra in notes so sharp that Aqua stilled in shock. "I am tired of seeing you bend your will and freedom to that youngling. I refuse to let that continue."  
  


This was a side of the merman that Aqua had never seen before. Their relationship was always one that was full of lighthearted wit. They endured their somber moments with a sense of humor and the actions of responsible mer. Terra was always self-controlled and never did anything out of pure visceral emotion. "Terra," she sang softly, the notes hanging as overwhelming feeling robbed her of any other words.  
  


Terra pulled Aqua to his chest for an embrace. She didn’t struggle, and instead found herself melting into the circle of his strong arms. Her eyes closed, and she remembered why he was the one that she chose.  
  


"Thank you," she sang finally. Her heart felt as if it was falling in love all over again.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The mers left at the ceremonial waters were stunned by what transpired. No one sang a word as the prince swam back inside the palace, followed by his concerned father. That left Sebastian to clear his throat with embarrassment and disperse the crowd on his own.  
  


"Go on, go on!" he shoed at everyone. "Dere be nothing t' see here. Go home! Oh my heart. Dat brat has really dun it now." The crab nibbled at his claws as he looked in the direction that the king and prince swam to.  
  


Riku was making his way through the corridors at a fast pace, however he could not outrun his father’s authority. The king clicked a sonorous "STOP," and the sheer amount of checked anger in the merman’s voice was enough to still the prince’s tail. He kept his back to King Triton as the other caught up to him.  
  


"I hope that you are satisfied by the spectacle that you caused," clicked the King in notes of disappointment and anger. "You have alienated a potential ally to this kingdom, you’ve given our people worry and doubt about our future, and you humiliated a poor mermaid who has done nothing wrong."  
  


"The whole idea of mating is a spectacle," interrupted Riku crisply. "What’s the point when you don’t even get to chose the one that you actually care for. Even if you have a family, the members are given away as trinkets in marriage for the sake of the kingdom. Answer me, where is your mate, father? Where is she, and where are my sisters?"  
  


The king appeared stunned, and then he gave Riku a grave look. "We have had this conversation before. I thought you understood back then, but apparently I was wrong. Your mother is queen of her own kingdom, and mermaids should be raised with other mermaids, as should merman be reared by mermen."  
  


"The commoners all live together," clicked Riku, now pivoting in the water to face his father with a fierce look. "Sisters and brothers, mother and father. They are all together. The only reason they would separate is because they are unfaithful."  
  


"How dare you!" bellowed King Triton. The columns around them shivered with the heavy notes rolling through the water, and the liveried fish dived around corners in shock. "You have the audacity to insinuate that I have disrespected your mother in that regard!"  
  


"The last time you saw her, I was conceived and born," sang Riku, his notes rising to tones so high that the more sensitive animals covered their auricles. "Obviously you’re not in any hurry to see her or your daughters."  
  


"She lives on the other side of the ocean," sang the king with equal fervor. "Across the volcanoes, past the shark infested abyss and deep beneath the ice caps. Even with the power of the Trident, the journey is beyond perilous. The few times that I do see my chosen are precious. Do you not understand that we both have responsibilities to our kingdoms? That both our lives are imporant to our people? We can’t simply throw them away in the name of foolish romance!"  
  


"You are the king, you can do whatever you want," retorted Riku. "If you loved her, you would go to her and see your daughters."  
  


"I do not need to be beside her to love her," sang the king coolly, "And I do not need to prove it to you or anyone else in this ocean. I know what is in my heart, as does she."  
  


"Is that the story you told her?" sang Riku disparagingly. "Sorry, but I don’t believe in fairytales." With a roll of his tail, he resumed his fast swim away.  
  


The king watched Riku swim off, and then cradled his forehead in his hand. "I hardly recognize that mer anymore," he sang dejectedly. Triton then swam off to the throne room, his fins hanging low.  
  


Riku didn’t stop until he was back in his chambers. He rolled the stone to his room into the entranceway and banged his fists against it. The prince realized that he let his emotions derail him today. His battle against Terra was unplanned, but losing to him further cemented his story as to why he would not be mating for a long time. It was to his benefit that he was bested in the duel.  
  


Still, he wanted to win against that mer. It wasn’t fair that Aqua and Terra would move on to live their happy lives together while he continued to scramble for the scarce time that he had with Sora. He wanted to unleash his frustration on them both, as if they were to blame for the fact that he had not seen his mother or sisters since his tail was as long as his hair.  
  


The real culprit, however, was his father. The merman had so many explanations as to why things were the way they were, so many heroic stories about destined lovers that could only pine and remain loyal while they were fathoms away, but Riku didn’t buy it. Triton had the power of the Trident; why did he not use it to unite the kingdoms together? Why did he continue to wax poetic about responsibility while his own son grew bitter with longing? The prince clawed at the stone wall, gouging it angrily. He was tired of excuses. When he inherits that power, he will show them all how it was supposed to be wielded.  
  


"Love the new textures on the stone! I think you should tear into the wall over here next, might as well make it all match," sang a voice from the shell bed.  
  


The prince whirled around, the movement sending his white hair drifting across his face. Fury lighted his aquamarine eyes upon spying Braig lounging on his furniture. He clicked angrily, "Get out of my room."  
  


"Whoa, what’s with the negative attitude?" sang Braig as he lazily rose upwards. "You should be celebrating! You finally got rid of all the little fish that have been bothering you. Now you can be a bachelor forever. No one will know that you already have a fine piece of tail waiting for you on the shoreline. Oh wait, my bad. He doesn’t have a tail, heh heh."  
  


The prince hissed as he snapped his fins and whipped through the water towards Braig. He attempted to claw the merman for his insolence but missed; the orca managed to roll his body away before he was damaged.  
  


"Now now, is that any way to treat someone who is on your side?" sang Braig with fake affront. He righted himself in the water, still wearing a simpering smile. "We orcas have no problems with you flipping around with a human. That whole thing about them being taboo and monsters is load of sea sponge. Mers have been mating with humans for a bajillion cycles before it was outlawed."  
  


Stunned by this revelation, Riku ceased his attack on Braig. His surprise turned into caution as he regarded the intruder. "I don’t believe that."  
  


"It’s true," sang Braig airily. "I can even prove it. I know the secret as to how a mer can seed a human. But I get it, it’s not something you’re interested in. I’ll just be on my way out now, I can take a hint."  
  


Braig began swimming towards the room’s exit, but before he could remove the boulder from the door, Riku blocked his path. The prince gave the orca a cool look as he clicked, "You will tell me everything you know."  
  


"Heh, if you insist, your majesty," answered Braig. His smile grew sinister. He would tell Riku what he wanted to know, but he wouldn’t tell him everything.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The sun was hot over the docks. Sora was sitting at the end of the pier with his eyes closed and his legs dangling over the water. He was waiting for the return of Riku. Usually they met around this time of day, but sometimes the merman didn’t show up, or vice versa. It made him wonder what kind of life his friend lived underwater, if maybe he had responsibilities to attend to just like humans did.  
  


Since he had given in to Riku’s advances, Sora struggled to come to terms with what he was doing. The shame of it weighed on him, especially when he found himself avoiding relationships with girls. He told himself that what he had was a friendship with benefits, which assuaged his unease somewhat. Other girls were turned down because he wasn’t over Kairi, and when his body called for physical satisfaction, the mer was there to supply it. The boy thought that if his friend was a human, then what they had wouldn’t be that strange at all.  
  


Still, it didn’t fill the void that Kairi left behind. Sora wanted to feel loved again. Riku wanted him, but he didn’t convey the same sense of caring in the way she had. The boy hoped that maybe the mer would become what he really needed. He thought he could mold his rough, selfish persona to a softer version that was more appealing. Like a trainer that subjugated his animals into obeying with the offer of food, he tried to change the prince with the reward or denial of his body.  
  


It seemed to work. When Riku was rough or misbehaving, his advances were turned down. On days when the merman was more gentle and kind, Sora allowed him to drink from the fountain of pleasure. Surely, he was doing a good thing by taming his friend. He told himself that every day.  
  


When Riku surfaced from the blue waters, Sora lifted his legs onto the docks to prevent them from being scratched by the mer. There were already several raised scabs on his skin from previous encounters that threatened to turn into scars. He offered his hands to help pull the prince onto the wood, however the moment that his wrist was grasped, he was forcefully toppled into the ocean.  
  


The human wasn’t allowed to flounder for long before he was buoyed back to the surface. Riku pinned Sora to his body by trapping his arms beneath his own. Only the strokes of his tail against the flowing current kept them afloat.  
  


"I didn’t want to get wet today!" yelled Sora angrily. It frustrated him that despite his best efforts to teach the mer how to behave, he was still treated like this.  
  


Riku paid no mind to his protest. Instead, he brought the human to their secret meeting place, which could only mean one thing. Thankfully the currents were mild today, allowing him to dive and reach the caves through the tunnels without injuring his catch.  
  


The boy realized that the mer wasn’t going to take no for an answer today, and the earnestness of the creature frightened him. There was always a very thin line of danger during their sexual activities. The prince was powerful and at times unreceptive to instructions. It led to a deadly cocktail which placed the human at risk of injury.  
  


Even so, in the manner that people owned gorillas, lions and apes as pets, Sora continued to tempt fate. He licked his lips as Riku pressed him against a stone outcropping, his eyes wide at the hungry look on his friend's face. The boy trembled at the fierce intent of that stare.  
  


"I don’t want to do this right now," said Sora; tentatively testing how much control he had over the mer today.  
  


Riku slid his arms beneath Sora’s armpits and dug his claws into the rocks behind the human, effectively releasing him from his pin but maintaining his captured prey. His arms remained squeezed against the other's torso, tight as a vice. "Seed," the mer wheezed past his gills and mouth.  
  


"Is that all you wanted?" asked Sora with a nervous laugh. "You should have just asked, you didn’t have to get me wet."  
  


The prince leaned in close, and his next words were rasped against Sora’s ear, "My seed." His member began a slow crawl out of his tail, and it rose up out of the water with a shower of droplets. It curled towards the human and probed along his cheek, while Riku nuzzled the other side with his lips.  
  


"Oh," said Sora, sounding less than enthusiastic. "You want me to do it to you. Like I said, I don’t feel like it today. I just want to hang out." He turned a plaintive look to Riku. "You know, be friends. You’re the only one that I can tell things to without worrying about what you think of me. Even if you don’t understand everything, it means a lot to me that you’re there."  
  


"No mouth," answered Riku amid pressing kisses to Sora’s jaw line. His member rose above the boy’s head and began dribbling fruity liquid onto it. The excitement of what the he was planning had his seed gushing in anticipation.  
  


"Ew, stop that! It’s getting on my hair," complained Sora. He tried to escape the humiliation of having merman cum rained on him, but no matter how he beat his legs or tried to squeeze past the line of Riku’s arms, he remained trapped. In the end, he resigned himself with a frustrated blow of air through his lips and ducked his head as his friend's essence dribbled to the nape of his neck. It felt like cold juice was being poured over him, leaving a sticky and sweet residue behind.  
  


Riku was pleased with the submitting expression on Sora’s face. His human was not allowed to resist him this time. He was going to take his pleasure the way that he wanted it and finally have control over him the way he didn't have control over his own life. The boy would have no doubts as to who he belonged to after their mating.  
  


The mer nuzzled as his member disappeared beneath the water and curled around one of his friend's legs with constricting force; not enough to hurt the flow of blood but with the strength needed to immobilize it. Sora was unable to swim without the coordinated use of his limbs, so he sank deeper until Riku’s arms pressed up against his armpits. He could feel that sinewy cock traveling up his thigh and into his shorts. It wedged past the line of his underwear and rubbed underneath his balls, following the curve of his body into his perineal space. The slick, prehensile flesh easily crept between the globes of his ass.  
  


Sora sucked in a breath when he realized what Riku's intentions were. In all of their play, he purposely hid the fact that he had another hole to prevent the mer from trying to penetrate it. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy it, in fact he’d come to adore Kairi’s strap ons and the feeling of being filled until he came. The problem was that there was no trust. He was sure that the selfish prince would maim him; only now did he realize the mistake of getting so deeply involved with this creature.  
  


"No!" he cried loudly, his voice echoing in the cavern. Sora trashed with renewed vigor, and Riku’s hold on his leg tightened even more. "Not there! You’ll hurt me!"  
  


"No hurt," wheezed Riku. He continued to probe upwards until he felt the skin soften and indent inwards to Sora’s channel. The tip of his cock was kept tightly shut to protect it against the powerful contractions that Braig had warned him about. His mouth fell lax as he began moving in slowly. The opening was only pencil thick, but he was able to slenderize his member to accommodate that size and slide in.  
  


"Oh god," said Sora fearfully as he felt the invasion begin. Even if he clenched, he could not keep Riku out. The mer’s cock was smooth as silk and amorphous, contouring to the smallest point of force to break through his sphincters. He desperately tried to remember everything that Kairi taught him to prevent damage to his ass. Relax. He had to relax so he wouldn’t tear. They needed lube, but Riku was slick enough so it wasn’t necessary. And last, his friend needed to go easy, and he didn’t know if he would comply with that.  
  


"Riku," said Sora pleadingly. There were tears in his eyes from the terror of what could happen to him. He wrapped his arms around the mer’s shoulders and pet his hair, trying to coax him into listening to him. "Go slow, okay? Don’t go fast. Please please don’t do it fast."  
  


The prince barely registered what Sora was saying. He was completely lost to his explorations of this part of the other's body. Pure pleasure was seeping down the long length of his cock and poisoning his tail with bliss. This was the mating that he had been waiting for. Finally, he felt as if he was going to achieve a true peak. He did move slow because he wanted to savor the moment – and because he had been warned that humans were very breakable. Riku could feel through his member the delicacy of the membranes surrounding him. All it would take was one little push to perforate them and cause death.  
  


Yet, behind those thin walls were rings of muscles that pulsed downwards, trying to push him out. At times the pressure would reverse and suck him in, rending his cum from him in a gush. The prince thought it was beautiful how his human could be so delicate but strong on the inside. His cockhead flowered open to allow his sensitive tendril to explore the curls on the walls, and occasionally he would find a pocket where he could stretch the thin filament out and let it frenzy through the space it found.  
  


Sora saw the white of pleasure as Riku tickled him directly over his prostrate. His back arched and his sphincters instantly gave way with his inhibitions. Riku’s member expanded the moment that it was given room. The long hose went rigid and tripled in size with the influx of seed, preventing the hole from closing up again. Sora fisted the mer's hair and pulled as that long girth expanded inside of him like a balloon, filling him up in a way that he had never experienced before. A scream tore from his throat.  
  


A lustful smile twisted the prince's lips when his human pitched with pleasure. Even in the cold water, Sora was hot and flushed. Riku could feel the boy's sexparts gorge beneath his clothing with the delicious cum that he craved. His tongue itched to drink him after thoroughly ravaging him. He continued to play his tendril against the same place that elicited such a dramatic reaction from his friend. It made Sora's air escape him in deep panting and throaty moans, and with each sweet reaction the length of the mer's buried cock was stroked with a fluttering of contractions.  
  


He wanted to feel more. Riku went deeper into the human’s body, and Sora’s tear-filled eyes widened with the shock of how far in the mer was going.  
  


"No," he pleaded, his voice gone soft and hoarse from screaming. "No, please no, please no.."  
  


Riku continued on through the litany of protest, and the deeper he went the more powerful those muscular contractions were. The channel had a bend that went into a spiral-like curve and then turned a sharp left. Hs member followed it up and around. Sora’s innards were working furiously to push him out, and every peristaltic pulse had the mer's eyes rolling with brain melting pleasure. His tail went flush against the boy as he buried all of himself inside; his scales rolling against the flesh between his human’s legs as he beat to maintain their float and copulation.  
  


Sora fell into a semi-conscious state when he felt Riku slithering inside his abdomen. The situation was so impossible and surreal that his mind simply refused to process it. His eyes went vacant and his body crumpled, leaving the automatic functions of heart beating, veins constricting, lungs billowing and intestines squeezing to operate on their own. He saw the whiteness of Riku’s wet hair and could only register that it was there. The strands were terrifyingly beautiful as they fell on the curve of Riku’s powerful shoulders and stuck to his face. If things had been different, he would have liked to rest his head there, just to have the memory of once touching a place so dangerous and lovely.  
  


Riku’s song of pleasure was lost in the dry air. Only the churning water and droplets from the cavern ceiling accented what they were doing. His body shuddered from head to fins as finally, his climax was released. The euphoria buried him, and he curved his tail between Sora’s legs and up his back as his seed jettisoned out. They nearly sank back into the water as his arms went lax, but the claws wedged into the stone behind them kept them tethered to the surface.  
  


All of mer’s essence gushed out, leaving him relieved and basking in the glow of it. Sora’s abdomen engorged with the influx of water, the near two quarts of ejaculate stopping just shy of giving him miserable cramps. The boy was too dazed to realize that he was filled to capacity in all the ways of the word. Riku kissed him soundly, never once taking the boy's unresponsiveness as anything other than the senselessness of bliss.  
  


It was difficult to stay afloat now that the prince had used up his energy. He pulled the limp human over to the rocks and hoisted him onto the rough surface, and did the same for himself. Riku arranged Sora’s body so that he was comfortable, and he spent several moments simply curling above him and stroking him adoringly. He continued to lazily push his member in and out of the boy, enjoying their closeness and feel of his seed sluicing inside.  
  


Then he leaned down and took Sora’s cock in his mouth, now ready for his meal. The boy was swallowed balls deep and treated to the internal fluttering of Riku’s gills and negative pressure. The prince even went further and stuffed his testicles into his mouth as well, such was his greed for the human seed.  
  


The pleasure of it was distant, but there. Sora began to be aware of things again, like the stalactites on the ceiling and the sound of sucking. He felt as if he ate too much, and he was cold. His fingers twitched as his bodily functions returned to his voluntary control, and the movement must have caught Riku’s attention. The prince withdrew from Sora’s cock and leaned over his face.  
  


His friend was smiling. He thought that it was a pretty smile. In the time that he knew the mer, there was always smirks or sneers, sometimes even a half grin. However, the expression on the creature’s face was sincere and beautiful, but completely wrong. Riku was smiling prettily because he didn’t understand what it was that he just did. That was what Sora believed. It was what he wanted to believe.  
  


Riku kissed Sora’s forehead and then he went back to milking him. The boy’s body eventually orgasmed and the prince drank every last drop that came with it. He removed his member after enjoying the dulled contractions, and chasing after the appendage was a gush of his ejaculate from Sora’s bottom. It spread beneath their bodies and dribbled over the rocks, returning to the natural lake below.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sora didn’t remember the walk back to his house. He didn’t remember leaving the cavern. His mind was disassociated from his body. It floated somewhere outside of him as he made his way home, skipped dinner and went to bed. Life repeated its cycles, whereupon he would wake up, cleanse himself, eat, go to school, come home, eat, and then sleep. He tried not to think about what happened in the cave, and the entire time, he could only think about what did happen.  
  


Riku had such a pretty smile. It haunted Sora’s dreams. The smile belonged to a loving face, one that listened to him, and laughed with him, and understood him. Kairi had a smile like that, but she was different from the mer. Unlike Riku, she had always, always, asked for permission.  
  


_You could have asked me. I would have said yes._ With a little time and coaxing, Sora was sure that he would have eventually said yes.  
  


Why didn’t Riku ask?  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sunlight poured through the bedroom window. The boy could feel it, but he didn’t move. He was disorientated and confused. His limbs felt like jelly. Sora didn’t know what day it was, what time it was, or what was going on. He felt sticky and wet from the inside and out, as if Riku had just cum inside of him again.  
  


Someone was banging on the bedroom door, but he didn’t have the voice to answer. It sounded like his mother. She was saying something about being ridiculously late for school. Sora knew that he had to get up, but alertness would not come to him. He didn’t know what was going on.  
  


The door swung open and his mom walked into the room. She marched to the foot of the bed, stalled for half a second, and then screamed bloody murder. Was missing school really that bad? To appease her, Sora lethargically pulled the covers off his body, intent on getting up. Only then did he see the pool of blood staining the mattress and covers red. He was practically bathing in it.  
  


He would have screamed too, but he fell unconscious.  
  


  


**To be continued.**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
> 

  
**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Seven-_

  


Tension ruled in the palace of Atlantica. Ever since the king quarreled with his son, the servants swam low and tried to keep things running smoothly. No one wanted to cross paths with Triton or Riku while they were in a foul mood.  
  


The only one who dared to tempt fate was Sebastian. Although he was just as frightened as everyone else, he had a soft spot for the king. He had watched their ruler struggle to be an exemplary father while ruling justly and fairly; so despite spoiling Riku until he became the awful fish that he was, Sebastian couldn’t fault the love that he had for his son.  
  


As the king brooded on his throne, the crab did his best to try to bring cheer back to the monarch. "Surely dis is jus' a phase," he clicked from his place on the stone armrest. "Even you were a youngling once, sire."  
  


"I just don’t understand," lamented Triton. "I gave him everything that his heart could possibly desire. No expense was too great, no request too small. Why does he turn against me now? This is more than I can bear."  
  


"Dat is whad 'appens when you spoil a youngling rotten," muttered Sebastian under his mouthparts.  
  


"What was that?" asked the king. The beginning of annoyance was starting to etch on his face.  
  


"Ahem, whad I mean t' say, yo' majesty," corrected Sebastian in a louder click, "is dat perhaps you 'ave been too giving."  
  


"Too giving?" repeated Triton incredulously.  
  


"Fo' a youngling ta unda’stand responsibility, you mus' challenge dem," explained Sebastian. He raised his chest proudly, as if he were a qualified expert on these things. "Dey have ta experience hardship or dey will always be hardheaded." He knocked on his own head to emphasize his words.  
  


"You want me to allow my son to struggle?" sang Triton with notes of disbelief. He went quiet for a few moments as he considered this. "Won’t that make him resent me more?"  
  


"If I may say yo' majesty, canni get any worse?" clicked Sebastian. "Da problem is dat he don’ unda'stand yo' perspective. Teach him ta swim with 'is own tail, ta cut with his own claws. Den he will know why 'es important ta listen to 'is fauder."  
  


The king frowned as he stroked his long beard. "If only Riku were more responsible, he would understand my situation with his mother. Then he wouldn’t resent me."  
  


Sebastian gave an approving nod. "Yes, and den when ‘eh unda'stands, poof, da problem is solved." And finally, that spoiled brat would learn some manners. The crab was all too happy to make Riku’s life harder in hopes that the foolish prince would behave himself instead of acting like a stubborn horse fish.  
  


Just then, the illuminating light of their palace flickered. The king immediately alerted. All of Atlantica was aglow from the power of the Trident; therefore if their palace was dipping into darkness then so was the rest of the entire kingdom.  
  


"Sire?" clicked Sebastian in alarm.  
  


"It can’t be," sang the king in notes of excitement. Immediately, he swam out of the throne room. Sebastian had to wheel his claws and little legs as fast as he could just to keep up with the monarch’s pace.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


"Let me in, let me in! It’s me!"  
  


Riku slid the boulder to his room aside when he heard Flounder’s voice. The prince looked harried and upset. It had been several cycles since he last saw Sora and it was frustrating him. His human had disappeared after their mating and it made the mer feel cheated and angry. The point of their coupling was to make the air-breather know that he was Riku’s property now. Unfortunately, it appeared that the complete opposite of that had happened.  
  


"Well?" clicked the prince impatiently.  
  


"I’m s-sorry," apologized Flounder with a bow of his body. "The dolphins talked to the seagulls, and they talked to the morning doves who say that they know where the human lives, but they c-can’t find him."  
  


"He’s not at his nest either?" sang Riku in low notes. The mer clawed at his rock door in frustration, causing a gouge that joined the others that were already there from previous outbursts. "Where could he have gone?"  
  


Flounder shied away from the prince’s temper, but he could see the worry driving that fierce emotion. Nevertheless, he hid behind one of the decorative corals in the room before curiously asking, "Prince Riku, why do you know a human? I thought mers weren’t allowed to surface?"  
  


"I can do whatever I want," answered the prince in crisp notes, before adding, "Tell anyone and you’re shark meat."  
  


The guppy shut his gills upon hearing Riku’s threat. "I-I won’t tell anyone, promise! But ah.. humans are monsters right?"  
  


"They’re not," clicked Riku dully. "They think just like you or me. They’re mers without tails. They just live different, that’s all."  
  


"Ooooo," sang Flounder in wonder. "Can I meet your human someday? He’s nice right? Is that why you’re friends?"  
  


"I don’t need any friends," asserted Riku with a flip of his tail.  
  


Flounder wanted to ask more questions, but he never got the chance. The entire chamber suddenly pitched into darkness before alighting once more. Riku turned his gaze all around and to the ceiling above with realization. "The Trident."  
  


"Huh?" inquired the guppy, but the prince never answered. Instead, he moved aside the boulder to his room and swam out. Flounder hurriedly beat his tail to chase the mer through the exit before the door fell back into place and locked him in.  
  


They made their way past servants who gasped in notes mixed with worry and wonderment at the phenomena that was happening around them. Riku didn’t stop to ask questions; instead he made his way directly to the king’s armory. It was a wide, open room that was protected by a blue barrier casted by the Trident’s power. He was able to easily pass through the force field, whereas Flounder was repelled with a pained "Ow!" when he approached it.  
  


The weapon was wedged into a block of quartz that spiked outwards like the spines of a sea urchin. Its power was pulsing, causing their kingdom to flutter between darkness and light. Crackles of blue lightning crawled down its length and shattered against the rock that housed it. The hum of its energy was muted and melodic, like an enormous whale singing its softest note.  
  


Riku cautiously approached it. The closer that he came, the more that his sinewy body glowed with incandescent light. While the rest of their world grew dark, he became brighter, and that could only mean one thing.  
  


The sound of someone swimming close made the prince dart into hiding. He took cover behind a pillar that was just beyond the Trident’s barrier, and Flounder was able to join him. They just barely managed to hide themselves before King Triton swam past with Sebastian in his wake. The monarch passed the barrier easily, but the crab was repelled with an ungainly squawk.  
  


"Oh for Poseidon’s sake," sang the King. He touched the Trident and gestured towards the entrance, and the barrier responded by vanishing. Cautiously, Sebastian swam into the armory.  
  


"Whad es going on, yo' majesty?" asked the crab. He made his way to the king’s side with a perplexed look.  
  


Triton’s face lit up as if something wonderful just happened. He grabbed Sebastian’s claws and swung him around in a happy dance that had the crustacean dizzy. "Wonderful news, Sebastian!"  
  


The crab’s eyes were spinning as fast as they were. He dizzily clicked, "Whad news, sire?"  
  


Triton stopped swimming Sebastian around and pointed at the Trident. "You see? Don’t you remember the sign? A male mer of the blood has been conceived."  
  


"You are joking!" clicked the crab in disbelief. "You are going ta be a grandfauder?"  
  


"I am going to be a grandfather!" sang Triton with joy. He stopped his swirling movements to think seriously. "Now, to figure out which of my daughters is the lucky mermaid. I’ll have to send a message to my wife immediately. It must be Sabrina, she was betrothed only a few cycles ago."  
  


While the king and crab sang happily over the news, Riku’s gills were flaring with growing horror. His hands felt numb and his tail frozen as he processed what was going on. Flounder waved his fins to swim closer to the prince’s face and give him a sideways look.  
  


"You’re all glowy," sang Flounder in low note. "That means it’s you, r-right? You’re going to be a sire."  
  


"That’s not possible," mouthed Riku. With a quick snap of his tail, he swam away from the armory so fast that Flounder was left spinning in his wake. The mer felt the walls of the palace closing in on him as the reality of what was going on came crashing down. _It’s impossible. It’s impossible. It’s impossible!_  
  


"Whoa there! What’s the rush? Got a shark on your tail?"  
  


Riku came to an abrupt halt, his dorsal wings splaying momentarily to prevent forwards movement. Braig was lingering nearby with a smarmy expression on his face, like always. The prince swam to the orca and dug his claws into his shoulders.  
  


"Why didn’t you tell me!" he hissed angrily.  
  


"Tell you what?" answered Braig innocently.  
  


"That the seed would take!" The prince slammed the orca against the palace walls.  
  


"Oh come on now," sang Braig with fake disbelief. "Didn’t you learn about the clams and the anemone already? Of course seed will take; you’re a young, virile mer after all. Don’t tell me that you didn’t know it would happen." The orca broke from the topic to look all around at the flickering light, and grinned. "Hey. This little light show. Looks to me like it’s going to be a boy. Too bad it’ll be short lived."  
  


"What are you talking about?" clicked Riku. His fins began to wilt with the implications of what Braig was saying.  
  


"It’s kind of sad really. Humans just ain’t good at carrying our eggs. Eats them up from the inside out. They end up a bloody mess. But don’t worry, there will be other humans. You can have your pick of them and no one will know the difference. Seed away to your heart’s content. Who needs responsibility?" Braig flashed a fang-filled sneer at the prince.  
  


"You’re lying," clicked Riku in desperate notes. "Sora is fine!" He released Braig and began swimming through the corridor.  
  


"What if I said that I knew a way to save your precious human," sang Braig. "Would you still say that I was lying?"  
  


This caused Riku to pause in his swim once more. He didn’t turn around, but he listened. Every line of his back spoke of the tension that extended all the way into his white tail.  
  


"The Trident is a pretty useful thing. It’ll grant you any wish that you want," continued Braig. He gestured grandly with every word, as if he was describing a fairytale. "Of course, your father is against using it for things like saving humans. You would have to selfishly turn against him and everything you’ve learned just for your precious Sora."  
  


Riku wasn’t going to listen to anymore. Of course, all Braig cared about was the Trident. He resumed swimming away, leaving the orca to smirk at the prince’s hurried departure.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sora was filled with contentment. Kairi was in his arms with her soft, naked skin pressed against him. Their limbs were intertwined and heavy from exhaustion. Sunlight fell over their bodies, its rays picking out the brighter shades of red in his love’s auburn hair.  
  


A second body stirred behind him. Riku’s strong embrace was curled around his midsection with sure possessiveness. The male companion felt human, with muscular legs wedged between Sora’s and a heavy cock pressing into his back. His long hair draped over the boy’s shoulders like a cloak of silver.  
  


It felt so good to be wanted by two people. Here, he was worthy and important. Sora mattered. He opened his eyes and covered Kairi’s dainty hand, as well as Riku’s larger one. The boy whispered:  
  


"Kairi, I want you to meet Riku."  
  


Kairi slowly roused, and she tilted her head up to peer at the unfamiliar person behind Sora.  
  


Riku’s grip tightened hard enough to blanche the skin under it, and the air rushed through his lips in a venomous, animalistic hiss.  
  


Sora opened his eyes. The dream was over, and now he was back to his horrifying reality. He was lying in a bed with his head and legs raised as if he was squished inside of an accordion. His forearm was pierced with a needle that was precariously held in place with medical tape. A plastic line connected him to a metal IV tree that towered over him. He was alone in a room with drab, white colored walls and a single television set.  
  


That’s right. He forgot that he was in a hospital. Sora couldn’t remember how long he had been there. His consciousness kept fading and returning, sometimes from his illness, and sometimes induced as the doctors performed their tests. The pain medications that they gave him made the world swirl, and when they wore off he was excruciatingly aware of the stabbing at his left flank and low back.  
  


His parents were here. He could hear their voices arguing beyond the door. Sora remembered seeing their worried faces hovering over him and the warmth of their hands as they held him. He was starting to forget why he ever resented them in the first place. All this time, he judged them for being the imperfect human beings that they were, and his foolish pride kept him from seeing that he was just as messed up.  
  


_No,_ his mind told him. _I am worse than they are. I am so stupid._  
  


"..the results of the MRI and the colonoscopy all indicate the same thing, that your son has a malignant tumor of the descending colon—"  
  


"How the hell can my son have cancer? He’s only 16!"  
  


Sora could hear voices beyond the door to the room. His father’s tone was loud and angry, and it made him feel sorry for the doctor.  
  


"Sometimes these things are idiopathic. Once again, I strongly recommend surgery to remove the tumor and repair the damage to the intestinal wall. If we leave it alone, it is only a matter of time before he becomes septic and dies."  
  


"Honey, let’s just give him the consent," pleaded Sora’s mother.  
  


"Do you understand what this man is asking us to do? He wants our son to live with a bag of his own shit – look, there has to be another way. I want a second opinion."  
  


"There is no time for a second opinion! He’s already had four blood transfusions. Our son is dying!"  
  


"Then give him more blood, take mine if you have to! But for god’s sake, there has to be another procedure that won’t turn our son into a freak!"  
  


_I was so stupid_.  
  


Sora knew why this was happening to him. He did this to himself. His own pride, his own defiance, and his own choices led to the current situation. He had done something so abhorrent with his body that he destroyed it, and rightfully so. It was a judgment that he would pass to any human being that decided to lay with an animal.  
  


He waited until the voices outside of the door died down, then swung his legs over the edge of the bed. His vision swam with spots and he almost blacked out from the pain. The smell of blood hung thick in the air. He could feel it pooling into the absorbent pad that had been placed beneath him, taking the remainder of his life with it. Sora used what was left of his strength to find clothing. A pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt were found on the nightstand, no doubt placed there by his mother in preparation for his recovery.  
  


The boy put those clothes on and ripped the IV out of his forearm. Then he painfully opened the window and crawled outside. He touched down onto the grass and took off in the direction of the beach barefooted, each step marred by his own slippery blood.  
  


Sora hid himself in the wooded areas of the town. He knew those places like the back of his hand because it was the same route that he used to secretly meet with Kairi. His breath became labored as he pressed on, and his knees buckled beneath him with sudden onsets of weakness. It was through sheer force of will that he managed to make it to the beach, his limping walk eventually turning into a crawl once he reached the docks. He managed to reach the end of the walkway before collapsing.  
  


There was no telling how long he lay against the hot wooden planks. His eyes were cast down to the water, waiting and hoping for a glimpse of his friend. When the miracle finally happened, he smiled despite everything.  
  


Riku had rushed to the surface as fast as his tail could take him. His fast beating heart froze when he saw Sora lying unnaturally on the docks. He wanted to believe that his human was just playing around, but instinct told him otherwise. The mer could see red blood dripping into the water. Nearby, dolphins were circling the shallows and singing notes of mourning. They parted to allow the prince to see his love for the last time.  
  


"Sora," wheezed Riku. He attached his claws to the wood piles of the pier and climbed up until the upper half of his body was balanced over the deck. His mouth went slack upon seeing the pale skin and dim eyes of his human.  
  


"Can I.. see you smile," the dying boy struggled to say. "Please don’t be mad.."  
  


Sora reached out to touch Riku. The mer was staring at him in complete shock, and as the human’s fingers approached, he shook his head in denial of the situation.  
  


"No! This is not going to happen!" hissed Riku in his native tongue. He dived back into the water and swam into the depths at a breakneck speed. Sora’s outstretched hand only met air.  
  


"Riku," the boy murmured brokenly. His arm lost strength and fell to the wooden floor. "Please.. don’t go.. I don’t want.. to die alone.."  
  


Sora squeezed his eyes shut, and then began inching his way to the dock’s edge.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The prince shot through the dark ocean like a silver arrow. Usually the journey between the surface world and Atlantica took up nearly all of the cycles of sleep, but at his current speed, he would get there in half the time. He didn’t bother to hide himself from other creatures that would recognize him. Schools of fish flared their gills in surprise as the prince burst through their crowded spaces, and anemones sucked themselves back into their protective coverings when he rounded too close to them.  
  


All of Atlantica was in turmoil over the flickering light. The mers did not know what was going on. When the Trident was conveying a message, it was either for good tidings or bad omens. They would not know whether it was good news or bad news until an official announcement was made. The populace preemptively gathered at the palace courtyard in hopes of hearing word from the king.  
  


When the prince broke through the crowd of tails to swim to the palace entrance, clicks of shock and disbelief chased after him. Everyone could plainly see that Riku was glowing. The last time this happened, the king had sired his son. Nervous songs fluttered among the crowd as they speculated the possibility of a male mer born to the dynasty out of wedlock.  
  


Oblivious to the commotion, the king and Sebastian were happily plotting a magnificent party to announce the arrival of the new grandson. They spent so much time in the armory that the hidden Flounder fell asleep. The guppy was floating serenely with his eyes closed until a burst of wake water had him turning head over tail. He woke up to the sight of Riku rushing into the chamber.  
  


"Son, what are you doing?" demanded Triton. His mouth fell open when he saw the fierce, blue glow that surrounded the prince. "No, it can not be. That’s impossible!"  
  


Riku ignored his father as he swam directly for the Trident wedged in the quartz. He grabbed the shaft of the weapon, and it reacted by emitting a burst of energy that flew outwards in a circle. The king and Sebastian were pushed back from the shockwave, and Flounder avoided the brunt of the current by cowering behind the stone pillar.  
  


"Riku!" bellowed Triton as he shielded his eyes from the light. "Stop this instant! You are not yet ready to wield that power!"  
  


The Trident detached itself from the quartz. Lightening crackled from its prongs and spread down the walls of the armory like jagged blue worms. Discordant noise sonerated from the weapon, causing Flounder and Sebastian to cover their auricles. Riku could barely keep his hands wrapped around the shaft; it tugged upwards through the water like a balloon rising into the air, causing his arms to stretch with it.  
  


"Riku!" beseeched Triton. He swam towards center of the storm, but was stopped when the prince managed to point the Trident’s sharp tines at his father.  
  


"Stay back!" sang Riku in sharp notes. "Don’t come any closer!"  
  


"Why are you doing this?" sang Triton. "Why do you turn the Trident against your own family?"  
  


"Just stay away!" hissed the prince. He wrenched the weapon close to his body in an effort to control it, and then swam out of the armory.  
  


Sebastian cowered with his head inside of his shell as everything happened. As the glow of the Trident faded with distance, the crab peeked out of his portable hiding place. "Yo' majesty, you mus' stop 'em!" he clicked fearfully.  
  


"As unstable as he is while he wields the Trident, I dare not," sang Triton, his notes as shaken as he felt. "He’ll come to his senses in time."  
  


"Come to his senses?" clicked Sebastian with wide eyes. "Whad if he does somethin’ crazy while he’s out dere?"  
  


"You saw it with your own eyes, did you not?" sang Triton. "The Trident is resonating with him. He will be the father of my grandson."  
  


"Whad?!" Sebastian pressed his claws against his face in shock and his jaw fell to the floor. He tried to fathom how this was possible. There were so many maidens in the castle during the courtship. Did Riku really toy with one of them in that way? Could the prince have that audacity?  
  


In the next moment, Sebastian realized that yes, he DID have that audacity.  
  


"Send for Lady Aqua, and not a moment to spare," instructed the king. His tone filled with command as he recovered from the shock of what happened.  
  


"Lady Aqua? Bud why?" asked Sebastian.  
  


"Isn’t it obvious? She may be the mother of my grandson. Now go!" The king gestured towards the door, but before anyone could react, their palace fell into pitch darkness.  
  


All of Alantica was suffering the same fate. The light that glowed within the stones of the city faded as Riku rose higher to the surface. Mers immediately became frightened as they watched their prince swim to the forbidden area and take their most precious protection with him. They scattered in panic to find hiding places and sanctuary. Where there was darkness, there were predators and enemies waiting to strike.  
  


Triton hoped that Riku would come to his senses very soon. Meanwhile, he could only order his army to go on standby in case the worst happened.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


As if it knew Riku’s intentions, the Trident dragged the mer to the surface like a magnet rushing to meet its opposite. It was all he could do to streamline his tail and fins to prevent the water’s resistance from pressuring against his body. The wild ride upwards didn’t stop until he broke the surface with a loud splash. One of his hands slipped away as the weapon pulled him halfway out of the water. Above, gray storm clouds spontaneously formed a ring with the prince at its epicenter. Lightning crackled across the skies and the ocean trashed like a wild living thing.  
  


The mer could see Sora in the distance. Riku grit his teeth as he reattached his hand to the Trident and wrestled for control. It took several jerks before the it was dragged back underwater. A spray of bubbles and an unnatural current swirled around the desperate prince, impeding him from reaching the docks.  
  


Sora was no longer conscious. He barely took his breathes anymore. Before he passed out, he managed to drag his torso over the edge of the pier, and from there he hung with his arms dipped into the water. The seagulls were crying as they circled overhead and protected him from the carnivorous birds that wanted to begin picking at his flesh. Gravity and the slipperiness of his own blood slowly dragged him down until he finally flopped into the water.  
  


Riku struggled against the wild power of the Trident to reach the sinking human. He gripped the weapon’s shaft with all of his might and wrenched it around until its prongs were pointed at his dying mate. "I’m not letting you go," he sang with utmost conviction.  
  


The Trident illuminated with white, incandescent light. Power pooled at its tip and shot outwards in a shaft of energy that engulfed Sora’s body.  
  


It ripped his clothes away, and changed him forever.  
  


  


**To be continued.**  
  



	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence  
> 
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
> 
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi  
> 
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?  
> 
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
> 

**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Eight_ -

  


Something was wrong. In his grogginess, it was hard to say what it was, but something was definitely not right. The first sense that returned to Sora was not touch, vision, hearing or even smell; it was topographical orientation. He felt that he was pointing in the wrong direction, as if he was standing on his head. When he opened his eyes, it was to find that he was staring into a great nothingness.  
  


_Where am I?_  
  


He took a deep breath and felt pressure against his chest and heaviness around his mouth and throat. _Wait. This isn’t air. This is..._  
  


Panic robbed Sora of all sense of rational thought. Water. He was in the water! He thrashed in an attempt to get to the surface. _Air! I have to get air!_ His arms kept hitting something and his legs felt stuck together. It was a scene from his worst nightmare; one where he hopelessly drowned in a pit of darkness.  
  


"Stop it!" commanded a voice. Sora's wrists were grasped and his legs were tied. He grew even more frantic as water invaded his lungs to the brim. Someone was holding him down. There was no way he was going to survive. He was going to die!  
  


Riku managed to wrestle the flailing Sora into submission. He wedged the Trident between their bodies, which were now wound together into a tight knot of tails. The prince forced Sora’s hands behind his back by the wrists. "Stop it," he repeated. "You don’t have to breathe anymore. You’re like me now."  
  


Sora’s eyes were dilated and his expression full of abject fear as he panted uselessly in the water, his gills flaring with every huff. The dimly lit vision of Riku staring down at him slowly brought him out of his panic. His attempt at mouth breathing slowed, as well as the desperate fluttering of his gills. "Riku?" he tried to whisper, but he couldn’t hear his own voice. Instead, a lone sound came from somewhere deep in his chest, as uncertain and confused as he was.  
  


"You can sing," clicked Riku with no small measure of relief. He released Sora’s tail and one of his wrists, but kept the other secure in his grasp. "Can you understand me now?"  
  


"I hear you," answered Sora uncertainly. "But I can’t hear me. What’s wrong with my voice? Why do I sound like this?"  
  


Riku chuckled, and the noise thrummed richly in the water. He swept a hand down Sora’s back, touching the dorsal fin that was there and traveling lower behind his mate’s new tail. It was forced to curve upwards, nearly folding Sora in double so that he could look at his own blue scales. "I already told you, you’re one of us now. You’re a mer."  
  


Sora felt an incredible nausea when his back simply bent in a way it was never meant to, allowing his lower body to rise up in plain view. However, instead of legs, a sleek, blue tail came into his field of view. The panic that had previously been under his control began to rise again. "This.. this is impossible. I’m not a fish, I’m human!"  
  


"Forget about being human. In this form, we can be together," sang Riku earnestly. "You’ll live with me in the palace. We’ll never have to be apart ever again. You will be my chosen."  
  


"Did you do this to me?" demanded Sora, his notes growing shrill. "Did you make me into this just so you could keep me?"  
  


"You were going to die," clicked Riku harshly. "Either you were going to be mine or you were going to be dead. I figured that you didn’t want to be dead, so I made the choice for you."  
  


"Can’t you change me back?" Sora’s arms were the only part of his body that felt as if it was still under his control. He used them to grasp Riku in pleading. "Please, change me back!"  
  


"No," sang Riku. His tone grew dark at the fact that Sora wasn’t responding favorably to the part about them finally being together. "If I did, you’ll die."  
  


Sora automatically held his stomach. He remembered the excruciating pain that he was recently in. The relief that he should have felt was shadowed by the news he was hearing. "Is it because I was too sick?"  
  


"You weren’t sick," sang Riku in low notes. The Trident was steadied in his free hand, and he resumed swimming with Sora in tow. Around them the water was lit by the soft glow of the mystical weapon. "You are carrying my seed."  
  


Sora’s expression turned fearful as Riku pulled him deeper into the dark ocean. The water pressure should have crushed him, but his light, too flexible body resisted it. "What does that mean?"  
  


"You are going to carry my son," sang Riku proudly. "The next king of Atlantica."  
  


Sora stared at Riku. He wanted to say that this was some kind of sick joke or that he was dreaming. None of this could be real. However, he knew deep down that he was being dragged to a new reality that he could not escape from. One where he may never see his family, friends, or Kairi ever again. In this new world, his body was permanently deformed, and if what Riku was saying was to be believed, then he was..  
  


It was more than he could bear. Dying was probably better than having to live like a monster from the ocean. This had to be punishment for what he did. He broke the laws of nature, and now he was transformed because of it. Sora covered his face in shame. He did this to himself, all because he was too weak to face being alone.  
  


"Get it together," clicked Riku with annoyance at his mate's behavior. His human was acting as if living in the lap of luxury in an underwater palace was a burden. Sora should have been rejoicing at the fact that his life was saved and that they would be together. What more could he possibly want?  
  


In time, he would make Sora forsake his life as an air breather. Then he would never desire to leave the water ever again.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


"What is going on?" sang Aqua in low notes. She was swimming alongside Terra through the darkened city of Atlantica. There were frightened mers hidden amongst their cave-like homes and sentries patrolled the waters with spears and swords in hand. Everyone carried bowls of volcanic glass filled with bioluminescent creatures in an effort to light their way. They glowed like feeble stars struggling to survive the unwanted night.  
  


"Nothing good," answered Terra. Upon receiving an urgent summons from King Triton’s personal messenger, they made haste to answer. It was clear that things were very bad when they entered the neighboring kingdom and saw the state it was in. "Stay close. It’s easy to get ambushed under these conditions."  
  


"Why would King Triton take all the light away?" mused Aqua. "Is he trying to start a riot among his own people?"  
  


"We’ll ask him ourselves," sang Terra. He took one of Aqua’s hands and increased the speed of his swim. If it weren’t for Nemo’s guidance, it would have been difficult to reach their destination due to the absence of light. The clown fish directed their movements until they reached the nearly invisible entrance of the palace. There, they were greeted by the guards, who led the way to the interior chambers with their glowing bowls.  
  


The king was seated on his throne, which was temporarily lit with smears of bioluminescent algae. Sebastian was crawling back and forth on the back of the seat with a nervous expression on his face. Upon the arrival of the guests, they both perked up and looked at Aqua with an unnerving intensity.  
  


The mermaid was taken aback by their stares, but she hid it by dipping into a bow. Terra did the same beside her. "I am here as requested, sire," she clicked respectfully.  
  


"Thank you for your timely arrival, despite the circumstances," answered the king. "I have asked you here because I have an important question."  
  


"I will answer anything you wish," returned Aqua, her notes now filling with curiosity.  
  


The king looked at Sebastian, and the crab exchanged the glance. Instead of asking the question, they fidgeted uncomfortably.  
  


"Your majesty?" inquired Terra. "Does this have anything to do with the current state of your kingdom?"  
  


"I’m afraid that the answer is yes," sang Triton. He began stroking his beard. "Lady Aqua, have you ever. Did you. With my son."  
  


"I don’t understand. What is it that you are asking me?" pressed Aqua.  
  


Sebastian remained silent throughout the whole debacle, until he couldn’t take it anymore. He rubbed his claws over his face hard enough to stretch his cheeks downwards, and then he exploded. "Did you o’ did you nod 'ave relashions wid da prince! Da trident 'is saying dat Prince Riku has an heir an dat bratty prince has flitted off wid Atlantica’s powah—"  
  


"Enough!" boomed Triton, which immediately silenced the crab with an ‘eep.’ He glared his gills, and then he sang in the nicest tone possible. "So did you?"  
  


Aqua’s mouth hung open at the audacity of the question. She turned to look at Terra, who was now staring at her with an intent expression. "No!" she answered in a shrill note. "Of course not! Why would you even think that I would do such a thing?"  
  


Terra didn’t respond to her, which made Aqua even more taken aback by the situation she suddenly found herself thrust into.  
  


When the awkward silence continued, she asked, "What about the Trident? If I was carrying the heir to this realm, wouldn’t it respond to me?"  
  


"Unfortunately, the Trident is not currently available," sang the king in resigned notes.  
  


"I see now," clicked Terra. After silently putting together the pieces of what Sebastian and the king said, he was finally getting the picture. "Prince Riku has an heir, and he has taken the Trident. That’s why your kingdom is in darkness. What does he intend to do with it?"  
  


"I assumed that he would take it to the one that is carrying his first born," clicked Triton. "I hoped that it was Lady Aqua, but perhaps I was wrong."  
  


A cold, sinking feeling went from the pit of Aqua’s stomach to the ends of her tail. Her thoughts flashed to the human boy that Riku was cavorting with, and she hoped against hope that what she was thinking was not about to come to pass.  
  


"Your majesty," sang Terra. "Your kingdom is vulnerable in its current state. Allow me to send word to King Eraqus for reinforcements."  
  


"And imply that there is an alliance with Lumina?" scoffed Triton. "Absolutely not."  
  


"The orcas could chose this moment to strike," argued Terra. "They will invade Atlantica while it is without the Trident’s power. What if your son doesn’t come back in time?"  
  


"He will return," sang Triton in deep, booming notes. "Whatever it is that my boy has gotten himself into, he will return with the Trident in hand. I have faith."  
  


Terra hoped that faith wasn’t misplaced in the rude, headstrong prince.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


They were almost there. It was risky to take the Trident away from Atlantica, but Riku was desperate enough to try anything. Now he was rushing back to the city to return the weapon to its rightful place, but he could only go so fast with Sora’s dead weight dragging behind him. With his mission complete, the gravity of what was going to happen when he returned to the palace was starting to press in on him.  
  


"The catch of the day looks like it barely made it off the hook," sang a familiar voice.  
  


Riku came to a dead halt when he heard Braig. Sora was hugged close to his body and the Trident was slanted in front of him in a protective stance. "I’m really getting tired of you sneaking up on me," he clicked.  
  


Braig emerged from the darkness and entered the pool of light that was cast by the Trident. He circled around Riku in an attempt to get a good look at Sora, but the prince pivoted to prevent him from getting too close. "Damn, that is one ugly mer, and I’m just looking at him with one eye," he commented.  
  


"Shut up," hissed Riku.  
  


"Seriously, he looks like a scavenger fish. Like, couldn’t you have given him a more interesting tail?" sang Braig. He scratched the side of his cheek as he looked at Sora as if he was some sort of abomination.  
  


Riku hadn’t taken the time to get a close look at the form his human took. Yes, he was a mer, but he lacked the majestic dorsal wings, the gradient colors or the interesting patterns that marked the bloodlines of the kingdoms. Instead, he had drab, slate blue scales and simple dorsal and tail fins. He looked like one of the nomadic mers that existed without any liege; scavengers that lived off the wild waters in uncivilized packs.  
  


It was annoying that Sora didn’t look like a mer that was fit to mate a prince, but there was no time to worry about that now. "He’s fine the way he is," clicked the prince. "Now out of my way."  
  


"I wouldn’t go back if I were you," advised Braig. "You really think the mers in your kingdom are going to accept him? They’ll treat him like a hermit crab’s old shell, and that’s before they figure out that he’s actually human. You should bring him to Noctis instead. We just loooove humans. You can live in the palace, mate him to your heart's content, make lots of little younglings. As long as you have that Trident, the king can’t stop you."  
  


Riku hesitated. It was true that if he went to Noctis, he would be treated differently. He looked at Sora, who was covering his face as if that would somehow hide him from the world. Although it was now happening less and less, his mate’s body glowed faintly as it resonated with the pulse of power from the Trident; a stark reminder that the future heir of Atlantica was alive and growing.  
  


It was in that moment that Riku realized that he was not just making a decision for himself, but for Sora and the unborn son that he would have. He barely cared about the people in his kingdom; they were an unwanted burden that was thrust upon him at birth. However, the responsibility that he had now came from his own choosing, and for that reason, it actually mattered.  
  


"Thanks, but no thanks," Riku clicked after a long moment. "I’m not afraid of my father." He resumed swimming in the direction of Atlantica.   
  


"Consider it an unlimited time offer," sang Braig at the retreating prince. He scowled once the mer’s light faded into the distance. "Why don’t we just take the Trident now while he’s alone?"  
  


"Because it’s not just a kingdom that we are going to conquer. We are going to rule the entire ocean," sang Xehanort from the comfort of his palace. As always, he was watching and listening to the goings on through his proxy. "For that, we will require the power of the Trident, which can only be used by those who will succeed the throne."  
  


"So we convince the brat to work for us and turn him against his old man," clicked Braig. "Yeah yeah, I get that, but it ain’t working."  
  


Xehanort’s lips stretched into a thin smile. "What made you believe that it was the prince that needed convincing?"  
  


"Ooooo I get it," sang Braig with a smirk. "I wasn’t really delivering a message to the royalty."  
  


No. That message was meant for someone who was a lot more desperate and weak; someone who had very little to lose at this point. It was meant for a very ugly mer.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Notes of relief echoed through the water when light returned to the stones of Atlantica. As the prince swam through the city, the Trident set the structured rocks and caves aglow. The mers clapped as Riku returned to the palace, which burst into a fountain of luminescence when he passed through its main doors.  
  


The sentries bowed as the prince went to the throne room. His grip on Sora’s wrist tightened as he beheld his father, Sebastian, Aqua and Terra already waiting expectantly for his arrival. When the inhabitants of Lumina saw who he was bringing, their faces turned to shock. Sebastian looked confused, and Triton appeared as if he could tear a new gorge into the ocean with the thunderous expression on his face.  
  


"What is that?" hissed the king sharply. Triton rose from his throne and pointed at Sora.  
  


Riku came to a stop and drew his human possessively to his body. "My chosen," he sang with pride.   
  


"Don’t be ridiculous, that is not a mer," thundered Triton. "You can’t fool me, boy. That creature is obviously not of this realm."  
  


Riku had hoped that he could keep the truth of what Sora was a secret, but it was quickly becoming apparent that his father could easily see through the magic. There were so many things about the Trident that he did not yet understand, and he was realizing it now. "He’s human," he clicked.  
  


Sebastian gasped, and Triton’s expression turned to horror. "You know the rules. You are never to go to the surface," he sang in stern notes.  
  


"As a future ruler of this kingdom, if I want to break that rule, I can," clicked Riku.  
  


The king was shocked by Riku’s impudence. All of his ideas about the type of son that he had were quickly starting to crumble. "You have no idea of the consequences. There are reasons why contact between human and mer are strictly forbidden. You can not fathom what you may have started."  
  


"I don’t care." The prince curled his claws into Sora’s scales. "He’s mine and I’m keeping him."  
  


"Keep him? As if he was some kind of pet? Look at him. Look at what you’ve done to him." The king gestured to the cowering human. "That pathetic form is a reflection of what he is. The Trident’s power reveals one true self no matter what shape they take. You have shamed that human. If you have any ounce of compassion for him, you will return him and forget him."  
  


"He can never go back," sang Riku in turbulent notes of defiance and anger. He pointed the Trident at Sora’s face, causing the human to turn away from its dangerous tines. Immediately, his mate’s body began to glow in response to the weapon’s proximity. "He is carrying a son of Atlantica."  
  


A shocked silence filled the throne room. The knowledge of what Riku had done was so abhorrent that no one knew what to say. Aqua held onto Terra’s arm tightly as if she was clinging to the last sane thing under the ocean. They couldn’t interfere in this family matter, and frankly they shouldn’t have been witnessing it. She wished that they were somewhere far away instead of having to endure this severely uncomfortable situation.  
  


"No," sang Triton, the notes lowered in sheer dismay. "Why would you do it? What could this human give you that was not at your fins from the moment that you were born?"  
  


"A choice," answered Riku. He pulled Sora into his embrace, ignoring the feeble notes the human made as he was crushed into his chest.  
  


"You have tested me long enough, Riku," clicked Triton. "I have tried to be patient and understanding, but you have crossed where no mer has the right. From this day forth, you will no longer have my support. Since you believe that you are merman enough to make your own choices, then you can fetch your own meals, carve your own cave and work with your own claws like every other decent fish in this kingdom."  
  


"Fine," answered Riku defiantly.  
  


"Now return the Trident," sang Triton. "You are a hundred cycles too early to wield it, and you have already caused enough trouble to our people."  
  


"This is staying with me," retorted Riku in flat notes. "I am not going to give you the chance to turn Sora back into a human."  
  


"You’d rather leave our people in the darkness for the sake of your foolishness?" seethed Triton.  
  


"I’ll stay in Atlantica," sang Riku. "Everyone will have their light, and I’ll have what I want."  
  


"So be it," agreed the king.  
  


Aqua made a strangled sound. She couldn’t believe that Triton was going to allow such a dangerous weapon to remain in Riku’s hands. Terra jabbed her with his elbow to remind her that she had to stay silent.  
  


Riku chose that moment to rudely leave the throne room without so much as a bow. Once again, Sora was pulled alongside of him by the wrist.  
  


"You may also leave," the king said to Aqua and Terra. "I apologize for involving you in this, and I will also appreciate you keeping this matter quiet."  
  


The mers from Lumina bowed with murmured notes of "As you wish" before swimming out of the throne room at a brisk pace.  
  


Once everyone left, Triton floated onto his throne and held his head in his hands. Sebastian wore a disheartened expression on his face, and after a few moments, he wheeled his claws and legs to swim up to the king’s shoulder. "Dere dere yo' majesty," he clicked consolingly. "Dis is nod yo' fault."  
  


"I’m his father, of course it is my fault," sang Triton bitterly. "Where did I go wrong."  
  


"Dese things 'appen. Younglings will always rebel," clicked Sebastian. "Bud do you dink dat it es a gud idea fo' da prince to do everything on es own?"  
  


"You said so yourself. He needs to struggle to learn responsibility," sang Triton. "And I can’t think of any greater struggle than learning how to be a father."  
  


"Bud dun you wanna see yo' grandson?" asked Sebastian.  
  


"Of course I do," answered the king. He flared his gills out in a sigh. "But how could I?"  
  


With the new chasm in his relationship with Riku, it would be hard to have a connection with his grandson. Triton wished that the prince would see reason and learn responsibility. He hoped that pushing him away was the right choice, and that this pain of separation was worth it.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Aqua and Terra were swimming quickly to catch up with Riku. They needed to talk to him about the current situation, but something else was bothering Aqua, enough that she suddenly stopped moving and clicked, "Wait."  
  


Terra splayed his dorsal wings and wheeled around to face his chosen. "What is it?"  
  


The mermaid gave Terra a serious look. "Did you really believe that I mated with the prince?"  
  


This was one of those questions that Terra knew was going to get him into a lot of trouble. He looked away instead of answering.  
  


"You doubted me?" sang Aqua with dismay.  
  


"I don’t doubt your feelings for me," answered Terra in low notes. "But I also know your loyalty for Lumina. I had to ask myself if you would you be willing to do it if it was for the sake of our kingdom."  
  


"And the answer you came up with was yes," clicked Aqua, her expression suddenly flat.  
  


"You’ve been a freedom fighter from the moment you’ve learned to use a sword," sang Terra. "You would do anything to protect the kingdom."  
  


Aqua put her hands on Terra’s shoulders and sang emphatically, "You are my kingdom."  
  


Terra’s eyes widened, and then his look softened. He placed his hand on Aqua’s cheek and stroked her skin tenderly. "You’re really making me hate that prince."  
  


"He needs help. If his father won’t step in, then we should. Who knows how the next heir will turn out with Riku as his influence," sang Aqua.  
  


"Good point," conceded Terra. "But do you really want to give parenting advice when you haven’t had a youngling of your own?"  
  


"It’s better than not having anyone to rely on at all," sang Aqua. "Would you rather that he turn to Xehanort for help? Because as long as he has the Trident, you can bet your fins that he’ll be visiting enough to be considered a godfather."  
  


"How about we just make a youngling of our own. Then we will be qualified to tell him how to raise one," sang Terra in playful notes.  
  


Aqua’s gills flared and her cheeks stained purple with embarrassment. She pushed Terra away and quickly began swimming towards Riku’s chambers. The sound of her chosen’s laughter echoing behind her made her blood rise even more.  
  


When they arrived at the prince’s chamber, they found that Riku was struggling to find a way to hold his door open and put Sora inside the room without getting him squished by the giant boulder. In the end, he decided to wedge the Trident against the rock to hold it in place while they swam through.  
  


Aqua inhaled deeply through her gills to put away the shock of seeing Riku using the powerful weapon as a doorstop. "Your majesty."  
  


Riku paused in the middle of what he was doing to give Aqua a glare. "What do you want. My business with you is already finished."  
  


"I want to help," sang Aqua. "I don’t think that you should have to go through this alone."  
  


The prince hissed. "So you can win points for your kingdom? You’re as ruthless as the orcas."  
  


"This isn’t just about the kingdoms. It is part of it, yes, but look at him," sang Aqua. She gestured towards the quiet human. "He’s going to need a lot of help."  
  


"All he needs is me," clicked Riku as he struggled to dislodge the Trident from the door.  
  


Aqua flared her gills with worry. The prince was so full of pride; he couldn’t see how dire his own situation was. Worse than that, he managed to drag a poor human and an unborn youngling into this mess. The mermaid decided to help Riku by wordlessly holding the stone back so that the Trident could be freed easily. "Just think about it. Terra and I will always be available. We just want to see that everything will be alright."  
  


Instead of answering, Riku hit the rock with his tail so that it would slide back into place. Aqua shook her head at the prince’s behavior.  
  


"Give him some time," sang Terra. "Male younglings really aren’t into accepting a mermaid’s help."  
  


"And yet, the Trident will only pass on to a male heir," sang Aqua wryly. "No wonder this kingdom is always on the brink of falling apart."  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The prince laid Sora down on his clamshell bed. He didn’t understand why his human was so silent. Maybe it was a side effect of the magic, or maybe he was just that shocked. The thought that this was how things were going to be from now on gave Riku a fluttering sense of apprehension.  
  


"Sora," he sang to the still mer. "Talk to me. It’s just you and me now." The prince touched Sora’s face, and then he gently kissed his lips. His mate didn’t so much as budge or blink in response. Instead, he stared up at the chamber’s ceiling, as if he could see the sky and land beyond the water.  
  


"This world is better than yours," clicked Riku. "You’ll be royalty here. Don’t let my father scare you. As long as you’re with me, you’ll be okay." He wrapped his tail around his human and nestled into the clam beside him. "It’ll be alright."  
  


Words would not come to Sora. He was in deep shock over everything that transpired. He didn’t know if he was dreaming, or if this was some sort of twisted afterlife that came with death. This was not what he wanted. Out of all the times Riku saved him, this was the first time he wished that he had been left alone.  
  


What scared him the most was the fact that he would have to depend on the prince for everything. If he ever wanted to be human again, then selfish, prideful Riku, who just pushed away his own dad because he wanted things his way, would have to allow it.  
  


Sora was scared. Very, very scared.  
  


  


**To be continued.**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence  
>   
> 
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
>   
> 
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi  
>   
> 
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?  
>   
> 
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  
>   
> 

**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Nine-_

_  
_

It was hard to say how much time had passed, or if it was day or night. There was no sun or moon to mark a beginning or end to the day, and the isolation of the prince's chambers made it impossible to see if other creatures were awake or asleep.  
  


Sora didn't sleep. He felt uncomfortable in his odd body; its temperature was not warm and it was slippery enough to almost feel slimy. Movement was impossible, he wanted to be upright and on his legs, but the lack of feet and strange musculature of his hips and tail were alien and completely out of his control. Being unable to move functionally made him feel even more helpless about his situation.  
  


He wondered if his family was looking for him. Sora could imagine them tracking him to the docks and coming to the conclusion that he had fallen into the water. Maybe they would send out divers and helicopters to search the ocean for his body. Of course they wouldn't find anything and likely give up after a few weeks of looking.  
  


Tears should have sprung to his eyes, but although the urge was there, nothing would happen. Fish didn't cry after all. It would have been a useless proverbial drop in the ocean of water around them.  
  


Riku was there, curled around him like a snake. Although he was trying to be comforting, Sora could only see him as the warden of this nightmare. Was he ever going to let him be free? What was he planning to do with him? There were so many questions that he wanted to ask, but he was also afraid to know the answers. 

"Hey."  
  


Riku's voice preceded the slither of his hands and tail over Sora's body. He was touching all over in places that were utterly unfamiliar and new. The prince was smoothing Sora's scales down and lazily caressing his tail fin with his own. Sora couldn't tell if this was supposed to be friendly or sexual. There was no sense of what was private in his body anymore because those parts were now gone. He felt completely emasculated, and Riku's touch made him wish he could throw up.  
  


"How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?" clicked Riku in annoyance. Since Sora wasn't responding favorably to his ministrations, he let go of his chosen. The prince drew away so that he could get a full view of what exactly his human had turned into. No matter what angle he squinted at, his form looked drab and ugly to him.  
  


There was only one way to fix it. Riku swam over to where the Trident had been placed against the wall. The weapon hummed with power the moment it was touched and aimed at the human. When Sora realized what Riku was about to do, his gills flared in alarm and he scrabbled along the oyster bed using his hands to try to get away.  
  


"Stay put, this will not take long," sang Riku. A white plume of power shot forth from the prongs and engulfed the newly transformed boy. The flare of magic briefly lit the entire room in stark white, and then it faded with glimmers of energy. What was left in its wake was exactly as what was there before - Sora with the same ugly tail. A frustrated note wrenched in Riku's throat. Why wouldn't the Trident make Sora handsome? Why couldn't it see his human the way that he did?  
  


Sora had been expecting pain and horror, but the energy didn't cause either. Instead, it was just as if someone had turned on a bright light and then turned it off. He blinked and checked himself to see if Riku had turned him into something else, but everything was exactly the same. One look at the frustration on the prince's face and he was able to piece together why. King Triton said that the Trident had turned him into something ugly, and obviously the prince wasn't pleased by that. In a way, it made him felt vindicated that there was at least one thing that the mer wasn't going to be getting.  
  


"Whatever," sang Riku upon giving up on Sora's appearance. "You need to eat." Even in the underwater world of mers, the consumption of large amounts of food was necessary for a seed to grow properly, and the prince would ensure that his son had everything that he needed. So he placed the Trident into a threaded seaweed satchel that he slung onto his back, and then pulled aside the boulder of his room to go fetch a meal.  
  


Waiting outside and dying of curiosity was Flounder. He was half asleep beside the rock to Riku's room when it finally began to budge. The fish woke up upon hearing the tremors, and as soon as a gap was opened, he sneaked his way inside just as the prince swam his way out. A gleeful pride puffed up his gills when he saw that his trick worked, and then he swam directly to the clam bed so that he could peek at the human. For the first time he would be able to see him up close.  
  


"H-hello!" sang the fish cheerfully to the sullen mer. "You're Riku's human r-right? I'm Flounder. Nice to meet ya!"  
  


Sora wasn't expecting to be approached by anybody, especially by someone who looked as if they would be served as dinner on a Friday night. He stared at Flounder, hardly able to believe that a fish was actually talking to him and that he had the capacity to understand it. Never again would he ever eat seafood.  
  


"You can't sing can you? We-well that's okay." Flounder assumed that the human was incapable of speech, so he accepted the silence as normal. "I bet if you try really hard, you'll learn. Oh, can you swim? Swing your fins around like - like this?"  
  


The fish demonstrated by fluttering his fins. Sora stared at Flounder's movements, and then he slowly shook his head. He couldn't move around like that, and he was unwilling to try. The human didn't want to acknowledge the transformation of his body.  
  


"You can't?" sang Flounder in dismay. "That means you're stuck here. W-well, the prince will take care of you right? He really likes you."  
  


A cloud of anguish twisted Sora's face when Flounder mentioned Riku. This caused the fish to quickly backtrack the things he said. "I-I mean, he can be hard to get - to get along with. But he's got a nice side, r-right? That's why you're going to have a youngling with him, and he's gonna mate with you, and make you a royal."  
  


The mention of the impregnation made Sora snap out of his mood. He turned a stark expression to the fish that was speaking to him. "It's not true. There's no way I could have a youngling. I'm a boy," he sang in tremulous tones.  
  


Hearing Sora's voice made Flounder happy, but the words confused him. "Yay, you can sing! But ah, the Trident says that you're going to have a youngling, so, so its gotta be true. Being a boy doesn't matter. Is it because human boys don't have younglings? They do here. You can have lots of younglings."  
  


Sora felt as if he was going to faint. It was all he could do to press his hands against his face. "What am I going to do. I have to get home."  
  


"But you can't go," sang Flounder with worry. "Your youngling is going to need you."  
  


"It's not mine, it's Riku's. He can have it," clicked Sora angrily. "I just want to go back to my home. How can I go back? You know don't you. What do I have to do?"  
  


Flounder swam backwards in alarm at Sora's desperation. "T-The Trident can t-turn you back. But only the p-prince or the k-king can use it. You really won't stay?"  
  


"How can I stay! I have a family, a life. I have to go to school, I have to tell everyone that I'm alright," sang Sora. Even if his life wasn't perfect, suddenly it was all that mattered. To go back to the way things were, even if it was lonely, was still better than being a fish.  
  


"I'm - I'm sorry. I thought y-you wanted to be here," sang Flounder sadly. "The prince, he always gets what he wants. If he wants you to s-stay..."  
  


There was no need to finish that sentence. Sora knew what it was that Riku ultimately wanted. He lowered his head upon realizing that the prince was never going to let him go.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku quickly learned that his father meant business when it came to cutting him off from his support. Upon visiting the kitchens, he learned that the staff had been instructed not to give him or his chosen any food. It took everything he had not to use the Trident to turn all those servants into sea slugs upon hearing this news. In all of his life, the prince had never been denied anything that he needed or wanted. If his father wanted to test him in that way then he could accept that, but the fact that Sora and his future heir had to suffer for it galled him.  
  


No matter. If he had to do things the old fashioned way, then so be it. Riku left the palace and swam to the outskirts of the kingdom. Atlantians that did not have servants fetched their own food by hunting and gathering. They often came together in groups before leaving the lighted grounds of their kingdom to do this. When the prince arrived at one of these meeting areas, the gathered mers were shocked to see him there, along with the Trident. They bowed before Riku with expressions of confusion and uncertainty.  
  


"Where do I go to get the best food?" Riku asked the gathered crowd.  
  


"The best food is in the trenches," answered one of the merman.  
  


"Thanks," sang Riku, before heading in that direction with a flick of his fins.  
  


"Your majesty!" protested the mer. "You shouldn't go there alone, it's dangerous. You need a pack!"  
  


"I don't need anything," answered the prince, before vanishing into the darker waters.  
  


The trenches were deep cliffs that were were subject to steamy waters that plumed upwards as they escaped from superheated vents on the ground. Its bottom occasionally glowed with red volcanic discharge that would eventually cool and become hardened sediment or glass. Riku found the rise in temperature stifling and severely uncomfortable, and he nearly burned his arm when he swam too close to steaming bubbles that were rising from the seafloor.  
  


Despite the difficulty of the terrain, the food was rich. All sorts of delicious flora were wedged on the sides of the trenches, ripe for the picking. Schools of non-sentient fish were easy targets for the well trained prince. The problem was figuring out how to get the delicious flowers out of the mountainside without blistering his fingers or getting stung by anemone, and how to properly swim his fish home. Those tasks were typically handed down to servants who would do all the foraging and deliver his kills home for him.  
  


Despite his lack of support, Riku was determined to prove to his father that he did not need him. He ripped the edible flowers out from the walls, ignoring the white hot pain that occurred from reaching too far past the anemone. Fish were speared with the Trident, leaving blood trails that discolored his scales and hair. By the time the prince was done his work, his seaweed satchel was overflowing with so much food that he could barely swim, and he looked worse for wear. It had been fun to get dirty on land, but to do it out of necessity was a whole different experience.  
  


Unfortunately for the struggling mer, his catch also attracted the attention of local fish. They mercilessly herded towards the prince's bag to pick at the mer's winnings, much to his frustration. He swung the Trident at them, scattering them away for a few moments before they would return again. Worst of all was a large, lumbering shark that decided that Riku's food was worth acquiring. Unable to outmaneuver the deadly creature, Riku sent a ray of energy at it from the Trident, causing it to die in a pool of spreading blood. By the time the whole fiasco was over, the prince's white hair and scales were stained an orange hue, his hands hurt, the smaller fish were still harassing him, and he wanted to just crawl into a cave and die.  
  


"My prince!" sang a voice.  
  


Riku turned towards the source of that voice. A mer with blonde hair and a light golden tale was beckoning to him.  
  


"Come quickly," sang the mermaid. "The blood will attract other sharks."  
  


The prince attempted to swim towards the mermaid, but his heavy satchel made it difficult for him to move. Upon realizing Riku's struggles, the stranger swam close and gathered some of the items. "It's easier if you keep your satchel away from your dorsal fin," she explained. "Come!"  
  


She swam away from the trenches and Riku followed. He listened to her advice and found that his swimming was impeded a lot less if he arranged his satchel the way that she recommended. "Who are you?" he asked.  
  


"I am Namine," sang the mermaid. She paused in her swimming to give the merman a bow. "When I heard that you came out here alone, I came right away."  
  


"Why?" asked Riku suspiciously. "Did my father send you?"  
  


Namine looked perplexed at the question. "No one sent me."  
  


"Then why are you helping me?"  
  


"Because you are our prince," she answered in the same perplexed tone. "If I don't help you then who will?"  
  


"I don't need any help," sang the prince stubbornly.  
  


"That's what you said to the others," clicked Namine. "Which is why they did not come. But I know that if I needed your help, you would protect me. So it was my duty to come and help you."  
  


Now it was Riku's turn to look perplexed. Namine was nothing more than one of his many subjects; he could tell by her appearance. She didn't hail from any foreign kingdom or high court, so she had no reason to come to his aid. Perhaps she wanted the glory of being near a prince or a chance at courting him, but she didn't look at him twice. Not that he could blame her, considering his current appearance. "Thanks. I don't know how I can repay you."  
  


"You have already repaid me by bringing the light back to Atlantica," she answered with a smile. "I was afraid until I saw you return with the Trident. Now I am not afraid anymore."  
  


Riku didn't know what to say. After all, he was the reason that the light had briefly left Atlantica in the first place. The prince nodded, and then gathered his winnings from the mermaid. With an awkward goodbye, he made the laborious swim back to the palace.  
  


He had to take a long sand bath in order to restore the coloring of his hair and scales. The ingredients that he acquired from his hunt were brought to the kitchen area to be made into a meal, only to have the servants politely refuse to prepare anything for him. This left the prince at a loss because he never made food in all his cycles of living.  
  


"This is worse than I thought," sang Aqua. She swam into the kitchen area with a slow shake of her head. "I heard that you came back to the palace in a terrible state, and now I find you about to poison your mate with sorry excuse for food."  
  


Riku gave the mermaid a glare. "Why are you here. I already told you that I don't need your help."  
  


Aqua settled into the space beside Riku and gave the prince a stern look. "You do need my help. Everyone else may be fine with letting you do things your own way, but I disagree. You need someone to teach you things. You need someone to tell you no. You need someone to guide you and support you. You need a mermaid."  
  


"You're not even from this kingdom. Why should I listen to anything you say?" clicked Riku with distrust. "Atlantica is not fighting your wars for you."  
  


"This is not about wars." Aqua picked up a cutting stone and used it to slice off the anemones that were still attached to the flora. Then she skewered the fish and hung them in the bubble vents to drain away any remaining blood. "It's about a youngling who is going to grow weak and sick if we do not do our part now. When a seed is passed, the entire family should be taking part to help. You have been sentenced to do it alone. Do you understand how terrible that is? Look at your hands."  
  


Riku didn't have to look to see how raw his fingers currently were. They were still red from dealing with the anemones. His pride chafed at the fact that he had to swim to the palace in such a state; covered in stings and discolored from the hunt. He was certain that everyone was talking about it by now. "I won't give in to my father's wishes and send Sora away," he clicked stubbornly. "No matter what trials lie ahead of me, I will fight my way through."  
  


"There you go again. It's not about fighting, it's about learning," clicked Aqua. Once the fish was drained, she used the cutting stone to slice its flanks in an artful way. The meat and flora were arranged tastefully in two stone bowls to be served. "I hope you were watching, because I don't give the same food-making lesson twice."  
  


Aqua picked up the second bowl that she made and swam away with it, much to Riku's surprise. "Hey!" he clicked after her. The prince chased the mermaid out of the kitchen. "That was the spoils of my hunt, where are you taking that?"  
  


"It's the price of the lesson, prince. You see, there was a catch," she clicked playfully. Aqua didn't stop swimming until she encountered Terra in the hallways of the castle. The food was offered up to him, and he gave a very pleased sort of smile in return.  
  


Riku slowed his swim as he witnessed this. He thought that he was the most desirable mer in all of Atlantica, but seeing Aqua and Terra together made him realize that he truly never stood a chance with her at all. There was something invisible but very real between them, and something as simple as sharing a meal seemed to make it all the more tangible.  
  


The prince returned to the kitchen to pick up his bowl. Surely Sora would show him the same favor.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


  
"I don't want it," clicked Sora.  
  


Riku looked at his chosen with disbelief. After bringing the food back to his room and presenting it to Sora, he expected a favorable reaction. Instead, he was met with disdain. "Do you have any idea what I went through just to get this? You have to eat this."  
  


"I'm not hungry." Sora's notes were low and depressed. He was still laying in the same spot where Riku left him on the clamshell bed, seemingly listless.  
  


"If you don't eat, the seed inside you can die," sang Riku.  
  


"That's your fault. You put this thing in me!" clicked Sora angrily.  
  


"I didn't do it on purpose," retorted Riku, his fins now spreading with outrage. "And stop calling him a _thing_. He's your blood too!"  
  


"That's not possible. How can the DNA mix, it's not like I have something to give, like girls do. Whatever is in me, its yours, not mine," clicked Sora.  
  


Riku was having difficulty understanding some of what his mate was saying. Despite being able to sing, there were some notes that were completely foreign - human terminology that just didn't translate well. "If the Trident says that's what it is, then that's what it is. There's no point in trying to explain it away."  
  


"Then after we get through this.. this pregnancy or whatever, make me human again and put me back on land," clicked Sora, the notes now turning desperate. "I don't belong here."  
  


Riku's hands clenched at his sides, his fins now turning downwards. "No."  
  


"Why not?" sang Sora with trepidation.  
  


"Because I won't," answered Riku stubbornly. He swam close to Sora and put his hands on the other's shoulders. "I need you. Our seed will need you."  
  


"What do you need me for?" sang Sora, his eyes growing wide. "You're a prince, you can have anything you want."  
  


"What I want is you. It's always been you," clicked Riku. He looked Sora in the eyes, trying with everything he had to make his human understand. "If I didn't bring you here, you would have died. I couldn't let that happen."  
  


"Maybe you should have," sang Sora bitterly.  
  


"Stop it! Just stop it." Riku's notes went low as he hugged Sora close, his claws now clenching into the other's hair. "I love you. So you're never going to die."  
  


Sora was shocked. All this time, he underestimated the depth of feeling that this creature could have for him. Now he understood that he had been completely wrong. That yes, the word 'love' did exist in their language. It wasn't the first time that someone confessed to him in such an honest way. Kairi had said it to him a thousand times. Back then, it had been easy to say it back, but at the moment he couldn't even think to do it. They just weren't true in this situation.  
  


"I am going to show you what it means to belong to me," sang Riku in quiet notes.  
  


The prince beat his strong tail to push his mate against the wall of the cavern. Sora felt his dorsal fin curl in upon pressing his back against the smooth stone, and it was an uncomfortable feeling. He arched to give his fins space and found that this movement delivered him right into Riku's waiting lips. His spine bowed in with the pull of the mer's arms, and his face was pinned into place by the claws tangled in his hair. There was no room between them, leaving Sora to clumsily scrabble his sharp nails on the rock wall behind him in an effort to stabilize his body. The hypermobility of his back still felt bizarre to him, and even in this situation he fought to keep his posture straight to avoid that feeling.  
  


Riku took advantage of Sora's confusion. He poured his tongue into the kiss, making it slither down the other's throat. There were so many things that he couldn't do to enjoy himself when his mate was human, and even less that could be done to give that pleasure back. Now that had changed, and the prince was emboldened and determined enough to demonstrate the reasons why his chosen should stay in his current body.  
  


Sora knew that he should have been gagging, but apparently merfolk didn't have such reflexes. He felt Riku's tongue going deep into his neck, and he tried to sing in alarm, but no sound would come. Instead, the notes were rendered into vibrations that were dampened by the appendage inside his mouth. It was weird and frightening, because his first thought was that he wasn't going to be able to breath despite no longer needing air.  
  


The prince shivered at the vibrations. Tasting his mate like this was like finally eating after a long starvation. Finally, he could have his human the way he wanted to. Slowly, he withdrew his tongue, reveling at the expression of shock on the other's face. His member slid up between their bodies, drifting through the crush of their tails to rest just at their stomachs. Upon seeing it, Sora immediately covered his mouth with his hands, believing that was where Riku intended to put it.  
  


Riku chuckled, the notes humming in the water like the tenor tones of a harp. He tenderly touched Sora's jawline, and the softness of that caress turned the boy's reticence to confusion. It wasn't like the prince to be soft or gentle when he wanted something. There had to be a catch.  
  


Sora watched Riku intently in an attempt to figure out why he was suddenly affectionate. The prince slid his hands slowly down his mate's torso, bypassing his navel and crossing the section where skin gave way to scales. He met the other's stare with an intentional one of his own, his aquamarine eyes lit with the glow of desire. Sora could feel something unraveling inside of him beneath the weight of Riku's aura. He didn't want to want him, but when faced by this beautiful mer who in this moment, saw only him, it was hard to turn away. Just as it had been hard all those other times that they had been together, when he knew that it was wrong - he still couldn't say no.  
  


The prince's hands made their way to a section of Sora's tail that was far below where his pelvis used to be. Sora thought nothing of it, until Riku dragged his claws in a deliberate, horizontal cut in a place where the scales were weak. This act caused a sudden sharp pain that made him hiss and start thrashing. "Ow, ow! Why did you do that!" he clicked, the spell between them broken.  
  


"Sssssh," sang Riku. He wrapped his strong arms around Sora, the grip suspiciously tight. "It'll get better."  
  


Sora didn't know what he was talking about. The scales that Riku had ripped open were still attached to his body, but floating open and closed like a hinged door. The initial pain turned to soreness that was not pleasant at all. It reminded Sora of the times that the mer would claw his body to get his attention, but instead of seeing the prince as his dangerous plaything, the roles were reversed. Now he was the toy, but Riku was still the dangerous one.  
  


Something began to stroke beneath the broken scales, and it took a quick accounting of Riku's limbs to realize what it was. His member was prodding at the soft flesh that had been hidden behind that flap, and before Sora could ask why, it pushed - and his body gave. Behind that natural door was a long channel, and he could feel every inch of it filling with that long length. From the moment he was penetrated to every centimeter thereafter, an intense, almost unbearable pleasure welled up from his tail and spread out to every fin and fingertip and hair that he had. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. His moments of pleasure with Kairi, when they would chase that building crescendo to its orgasm, took time and effort to get there; but with Riku, he was already there, and he couldn't come down from the peak. His threw his head back and his body stiffened down to his tail fins, and a long, pitched note of unyielding pleasure ripped through his lips and gills.  
  


He couldn't feel or see anything beyond the brightness of that immediate climax. Their bodies were rolling together, tails intertwined as they floated as one. Sora's voice twined in melody with Riku's own, the both of them lost to the moment. He thought that he would die; that maybe he was already dead and he didn't care if he was. A pleasure that divine could only exist in heaven.  
  


Sora didn't know how long they were like that. It could have been minutes, it could have been years. All he knew was that the blinding feeling was gone. When he could perceive things again, he realized that he was holding Riku's back tight enough to leave gouges. He could feel the prince’s member retracting slowly, and as it moved two and a half feet out, aftershocks of pleasure made him tremor and a feeling of fullness replaced where his cock had been. It took a while to realize that he had been engorged by the other's ejaculate, and while normally this would have freaked him out, it simply felt too good to care.  
  


There was a new heaviness to Sora's body that made him sink. He slid down, his hands too weak to find purchase anywhere. The prince caught his slow descent by the wrists, and with a lazy stroke of his tail fin he drifted them over to the clamshell bed. His chosen was poured inside of it and he followed thereafter. They laid with their tails tangled together and looked into each other's eyes in a shared daze.  
  


Sora could hear something soft, like a song played at the lowest volume. It took a few moments before he realized that it was coming from Riku. His mouth wasn't moving, but a deep vibration seemed to be coming from him. He could feel that melody deep inside, as if all the parts of him that had been filled were resonating with the mer's presence. It felt amazing, like a deep caress that went under his skin.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sora fell asleep. He had a dream that he was going on a cruise vacation, and before he walked up the gangplank he said goodbye to his friends, family and relatives that were on the docks. There were people there that he would not have expected to see, such as his long dead grandparents and schoolmates that he had not met in years. Kairi was there, and she was waving him off with a smile. He made his way into the cruise ship, and halfway there he had to stop because suddenly there was water gushing out of his body. It flushed out of every pore and drenched his feet; sticky water that smelled juicy. He stared down at the river coming out of him, trying to figure out what orifice it was coming from.  
  


Then he woke up, at first unable to unravel what was dream and what was reality. The surrealness of being underwater was still hard to accept. He pushed up on his arms to bring his feet to a stand, but instead his tail folded uselessly beneath him and he went nowhere. It was only then that he remembered his truth: that he had been kidnapped, transformed and forced to live in the ocean.  
  


Riku was floating about, apparently making preparations for something. The Trident was already at his back, and he was taking time to braid his silver hair with strings of seaweed. Upon realizing that Sora was stirring, he finished what he was doing and then floated down to give his mate a kiss.  
  


"There's somewhere I have to go," Riku sang softly, "but I'll be back. You have to eat something." Upon saying this, he gestured towards a bowl of food. It looked exactly like the last bowl that he tried to serve earlier, but the ingredients were refreshed. "We're moving to a new place. When we're done settling in, I'll do that to you again."  
  


Sora's face filled with shock when he processed the last thing that Riku said. This made the prince smile and kiss his love again, before swimming to the chamber's exit. As he moved aside the rock to swim out, an excited Flounder snuck his way back in again with a grin.  
  


Sora was in complete disbelief, and not because it dawned on him that he'd been fucked like a woman. It was the fact that this seemed to be his only purpose in the ocean. To just float around in Riku's little home and allow himself to be his sex toy. The scary part was that a part of him was not protesting this at all. Already, he was craving to be taken like that again, to feel a high so great that it made everything else in his life insignificant. All the pain, disappointment and sorrows that he ever felt simply ceased to exist in that mind numbing glow of pleasure.  
  


"Sora!" sang Flounder once he was certain that Riku was gone. "You were in here for so long. I thought you guys were never going to leave. S, so that means you're getting along, right?"  
  


"What do you mean?" asked Sora. "Exactly how long was I in here?"  
  


"Like a million cycles," answered Flounder with an excited twitch of his body. "The king was so mad, b-because you guys haven't done the ceremony yet."  
  


_A million cycles?!_ He was exaggerating right? How long was a cycle? What did that translate to in the world above? Hours? Days? Months? Sora felt panic rise from his stomach. Suddenly, he had to get out. He waved his arms as if he was doing a butterfly stroke, trying to bring his odd body to where he thought was up towards the surface. He buoyed upwards, and he latched onto the nearest thing to keep from sinking back down.  
  


He found himself hanging in front of the long volcanic mirror that Riku used to prep his appearance. Sora looked at its glossy surface and saw his new self for the first time. His ears were gossamer blue and flowered out into a dish shaped auricle; his neck was slit with gills that opened and closed like involuntary balloons that inflated and deflated on their own. His skin was so sallow that at first he thought he was looking at something that was dead.  
  


"Sora?" questioned Flounder, who now sounded a bit subdued due to the other's silence. "Are you okay?"  
  


Sora didn't answer. He was too transfixed by the person that he found in the mirror. The realization of what he turned into, of what his desires brought him to, were dawning on him.  
  


_Kairi. I hope you realize it soon. I hope you realize it before its too late, before your own body betrays you too. This feeling that we thought we wanted, it isn't worth anything. I used it to feel important and wanted, but I'm still neither of those things. What did you use it for?_  
  


Sora closed his eyes against the image in the mirror, and then slowly opened them again. His expression was clearer afterwards, and more somber. Older.  
  


"Flounder," he sang to the fish, "please teach me how to swim."  
  


  


**To be continued.**

**  
**


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
> 
> **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

**Author:** Cold Silence  


**E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  


**Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi  
  
 **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?  


**Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.  


  


**Unfathomable**   
- _Chapter Ten_ -  
  


Sora didn't just learn how to swim, he became excellent at it. Under Flounder's tutelage he came to learn the new workings of his body and how to utilize its pliability and unfamiliar movements to propel himself within the water. It was difficult in the beginning because he kept trying to move as a human, leading to many failures and frustrations that he couldn't vent as a mer. When he finally accepted the reality of his appearance, his tail and fins responded and granted him the freedom of movement that he desperately wanted.  
  


He spent a lot of time looking at the volcanic glass in Riku's chamber. Sora hated his appearance and blamed himself for the events that led him to his current state. There was nothing that he could outwardly see that showed that he was pregnant, at least not in the traditional way that he was used to. If there was a special feeling that went along with it, he couldn't tell what it was since every part of his body felt different than normal.  
  


Eventually he learned to own up to what he did and forgive himself for his actions. He began to look at his current life as the penance for acting so irresponsibly. Those thoughts were reinforced when he would leave Riku's room and venture through the palace. Other mer folk stared at him in disdain. He could hear murmurings in soft tones about how ugly he was compared to their prince. When he needed help with anything, he was ignored or outright told that he was not allowed to have assistance by order of the king. As time went on, the fabulous life that the prince promised was looking more and more like a distant pipe dream.  
  


The only ones who were nice to him were Flounder, Aqua and Terra. The latter two introduced themselves to him when he was swimming through the palace one day, and were instrumental in helping him to become adjusted. Aqua told him about Altantica and the realms beyond, and taught him basic things such as how to bathe, prepare food, groom himself and behave appropriately before the royalty. Terra taught him how to use his claws and tail to defend himself since it was a possibility that he could be targeted due to being close to the prince.  
  


Sora was grateful for them; he couldn't care less if they were from another kingdom. Any inch of kindness he received made him feel less alone and lost. There were many occasions where he was frustrated enough to make a break for the surface, but they always sang some sense into him before he tried. They told him to bide his time because the only real way to get his life back was to become human again. Something that could only be done by the king or the prince with the Trident's power.  
  


As for Riku...  
  


His relationship with the royal mer was very rocky. At first, Sora blamed him for his current predicament and they spent a lot of time in arguments. Things got so cold between them that they stopped having a physical relationship and slept on separate sides of the clam bed. They became uncomfortable in each other's presence, and Sora hoped that this would be the impetus to return him to the surface world. Yet, despite how hard things got between them, Riku continued to refuse to set him free. The prince insisted that they needed to stay together.  
  


As Sora learned more about the merfolk, he realized that his supposed mate was in over his head. Riku was being treated like a pauper instead of the prince, and every time he swam into the cavern he looked less and less like royalty and more tired and worn. Sora recognized that look; he had seen it on his parents when they came home after long days. They would sit on the couch together after work and lean against each other, one supporting the other.  
  


It made him realize that it was pointless to blame the merman. They both got into this mess together and they were both out of their depth. There came a time when Riku sluggishly swam into his cave and floated down to his side of the bed, and Sora, hesitant at first, came to rest against him. The prince did not expect this, and he gave his chosen a questioning look. Sora answered by resting his cheek against the other's shoulder. Receiving affection instead of the usual vitriol made open relief show on Riku's face, and seeing that expression washed away all of Sora's bitterness towards him. From then on, they were friends again.  
  


They talked about when they first met, back when they were kids. The many misunderstandings between them and the differences in their worlds would bring bittersweet laughter as they rehashed their past with a new level of understanding. The boy admitted that he always had a level of fear towards the mer, and the prince apologized for being so forceful towards him. Riku admitted that he had always loved Sora, and Sora told him about Kairi.  
  


The truthfulness of these conversations only served to break Riku's confidence. To hear that he was not Sora's first choice or even a second love reminded him that being the most revered mer in the ocean meant nothing to the human. He understood now why he wasn't good enough and where he went wrong. This haunted him as the cycles passed, and the realization set that he would be parenting a youngling with someone who would easily leave him at the first prospect of returning to the surface world.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku had to find a new place to live for his growing family. Normally he would have stayed in the palace, but the inhospitable treatment from his father and the servants was enough to convince him to move out. Mer that lived outside of the palace built their homes in caves that they dug themselves. The prince searched all over his kingdom until he found a perfect place, one that was distant from the palace but close to hunting grounds and markets. He found a large, unoccupied mountainside that towered over the busy hub of Atlantica and provided natural defenses from predators and intruders alike.  
  


There was only one problem. The reason the mountain was uninhabited was because it had several layers of siltstone. Riku tried to claw his way into it, but the sheer amount of work needed to make just one scratch was Herculean. Normally this was an endeavor that his family would have participated in, but since he was disowned he could not count on them. Frustrated, he tried to blow a hole through the stone using the Trident, but when he aimed the mythical weapon, nothing happened.  
  


This was becoming a common occurrence. Instead of gaining mastery over the weapon, it seemed to obey the prince less and less, as if it was rejecting him as soundly as his own father was. In a moment of despair, he hit the solid rock with his fists and leaned against it.  
  


_What am I doing wrong. Why is none of this right?_  
  


The cave-building, the Trident, his servants, his father, Sora. Why was none of it right?  
  


"My Prince."  
  


Riku leaned away from the mountainside and turned towards the source of those notes. Floating before him was Namine and several other mers that he had come to know from his hunts. He had no idea why they were there. "Yes?" he sang uncertainly.  
  


"We've come to help you claw your cave," sang Namine with a smile.  
  


Riku thought that he didn't hear that right. His words were clicked slowly, because he was fully expecting some kind of catch or price to pay for this generosity. "Why?"  
  


"We know your chosen is not noble born and that your family has shunned you because of it. Although the royalty do not approve, we do. As normal merfolk, we appreciate you mating someone who is like us," she explained.  
  


"But he's not like you," protested Riku. "He's special. There isn't anyone like him in all the ocean." Naturally, because Sora was in fact, human - but that wasn't something that he could tell the gathered mer. The prince struggled to convey this to Namine without giving away his secret.  
  


Before Riku could say anything else, the large group floated to the mountainside. They all began clawing, and with their concerted effort, the mountainside's surface began to flake and give way.  
  


"Of course he is special. You are the one who chose him after all," sang Namine. She took the prince's wrist and led him to the work site. "Come. We must make a home for your family."  
  


A feeling welled up inside Riku, one that he had never experienced in all the cycles that he had lived. It seemed to come from somewhere deep in his heart and bloomed outwards, filling him with utmost relief.  
  


Gratitude.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Several cycles passed before their new home was completed. Sora was not looking forwards to moving. It was bad enough that they were pariahs in the palace; now they would have to pack up their things and carry everything out while all the servants simply watched and gossiped about them. Riku kept his head held high and dorsals streamlined while he floated their things outside, but Sora seemed to curl in on himself as he made the procession to the palace's exit. The weight of everyone's judgement made his fins sag. No matter which world or what form he was in, he couldn't escape the feeling of being punished for being such a deviant.  
  


Riku noticed the way that his mate was dragging his tail, so he paused in their work to reassure him. "Everything is going to be okay," he sang in muted notes. "You'll see."  
  


"Won't we be alone out there?" asked Sora. Although they were neglected in the palace, at least they were surrounded by other mers. He wasn't sure about living in a place where they were more isolated.  
  


"We have the Trident," sang Riku assuredly. "Nothing is going to mess with us."  
  


That wasn't the point that Sora was trying to make. He tried to explain this, but was interrupted by the arrival of Aqua and Terra. Through their combined effort, they were floating the clamshell bed out of their abandoned chamber.  
  


"I think you're going to need this," clicked Terra.  
  


"And before you say it - we know. You didn't ask for help," sang Aqua. "But we're not letting Sora go without a bed."  
  


Sora smiled, glad that there was at least some mers who were willing to help them.  
  


"You're also making sure that you know where we live," clicked Riku in flat notes.  
  


"I don't mind," interrupted Sora. He floated over to the residents of Lumina and lowered his torso into a bow - something that he learned from Aqua's teachings. "Thanks for your help. For everything. I don't know what I would have done without you."  
  


Aqua made a soft note that conveyed all of her affection for the human. In the time that she got to know Sora, she saw a young soul that was easily misguided and lost - but also someone who had the potential to be caring, resilient and strong. It was her hope that with time, he would come into his own and became a great father to the future king of Atlantica. She reached out to pass her claws though his drifting hair. "You're going to be just fine. And if you won't, you'll have us."  
  


"I think you've butted in enough," clicked Riku tensely. Unfortunately, he couldn't be around at all times of the tide to keep an eye on Sora due to the hunting and foraging that he had to do, which meant that his chosen could meet anybody when he wasn't around. He would have preferred that Sora made friends with people from his own kingdom. Terra and Aqua, although helpful, may not have shown the same amount of friendship if Sora was not carrying a future king.  
  


Terra leveled a serious look at Riku. "Although there has been no ceremony, you should treat each other as if you are bonded. You are going to need that if you're going to survive on your own."  
  


"I don't need some pompous celebration to tell me what I already know in my heart," clicked Riku. He floated over to Sora and took his hand. "Come on. We're leaving this place."  
  


Sora hesitantly flicked his fins to swim away from the palace. Terra and Aqua followed behind, carrying the large clam bed between the two of them. He looked up at Riku's strong profile and wondered if the prince was really feeling as brave as he looked on the outside. "What ceremony did they mean?" he asked.  
  


"It's something that mers do to show everyone that they are mated for life," explained Riku. "We'll have one someday, when the time is right. I don't want anyone else but you."  
  


"You mean a marriage," sang Sora, using his own human word to describe it. "I didn't know that you wanted to get married." He didn't realize that merfolk got married at all until now. "Where I come from, it's not a good idea to have kids before getting married. Is it the same down here?"  
  


"It's the same," confirmed Riku with an unhappy expression. "It's my fault. I thought I could do whatever I wanted without realizing that it could make a youngling. If I had known, I would have been more careful and made sure we had our ceremony first."  
  


"You really wanted to marry me?" sang Sora, his notes holding a mix of shock and amusement. "A human and a fish?"  
  


Riku stopped swimming and turned so that he could face Sora with a serious expression. "Is something wrong with that?" he clicked.  
  


"Yes! I mean, don't you think there would be problems with that sort of thing," countered Sora. "At least there would have been before you turned me into.. this." He gestured to his own body. "I guess there's not too much problem now."  
  


"So you'll have the ceremony with me?" sang Riku intently.  
  


"I can't do that. I'm going back to my home," answered Sora with a frown. "After I'm done carrying whatever I'm carrying, I'm going back to your dad and I'll find a way. I miss my family. Just because you hate yours, doesn't give you the right to take me away from mine."  
  


Riku's grasp on Sora's wrist tightened to the point that it almost caused pain. "I swear on every life that has ever been created in this ocean that I will spend the rest of mine finding a way to make you love me in return."  
  


Those words stunned Sora. Not just their honesty, but the fact that Riku's notion of love was so immature. Though Sora's own knowledge of the concept wasn't absolute, even he was certain that it was something that could not be forced. "That's now how it works, Riku!" he sang emphatically.  
  


Unfortunately, Riku wasn't listening anymore. They arrived at their destination, and Sora found that it was just as the prince described - a very high outcropping of stone that overlooked the kingdom, like the tallest tower that was meant to hide away a princess in a fairytale. He expected a completely remote and isolated area, but to his surprise, there were dozens of mer surrounding the newly built cave. Upon their arrival, they sang cheerful notes and welcomed them to their new home.  
  


Given how they had been treated up until now, Sora was surprised to see anyone congratulating them. "Who are they?" he asked Riku.  
  


"Atlantians," the prince explained. "They helped to build our home."  
  


"I don't believe it," sang Sora in awe. "You have friends."  
  


Riku's first gut reaction was to say that he didn't have or need friends, however the notes stalled. The truth was that these mers helped him when he needed it most, and he couldn't forsake that. "You say it like it's impossible."  
  


"I thought it was," clicked Sora in disbelief. A few members of the crowd floated his way and gently grasped him by his arms. He didn't know what to do or say as they placed threaded flora and shells around his neck and led him into the cave.  
  


A few others fetched the clamshell bed from Terra and Aqua to float over to the cave's entrance. Up until then, the couple had been quietly listening to Sora and Riku talk in an attempt to understand their situation better. It seemed that they were getting along, but the prince's affections were clearly one-sided. They were also surprised to see other merfolk helping with the new mountainside home.  
  


At first, Aqua moved to join the gathering, however Terra stalled her with an outstretched arm. "Let them be," he sang to his chosen.  
  


"Why?" asked Aqua.   
  


"This is good for the prince," clicked Terra. "When was the last time you ever saw him mingle with commoners?"  
  


"Never," she sang in wonderment. "Do you think the prince is changing?"  
  


"I think that we are all at heart the same as we were born," sang Terra. "But its up to us to bring out the better parts of ourselves and let the worst sink low."  
  


"And you think the prince has better parts?" clicked Aqua.  
  


"I think the prince was once a youngling like everyone else. Someone who needed protection, caring and knowledge to know how to live."  
  


"But he had those things," argued Aqua. "King Triton would not have let him lack for anything."  
  


"He's still missing knowledge," sang Terra. "The kind that only the world can teach you." He gently grasped Aqua's wrist. "Let's let them see their new home. We'll visit later."  
  


Aqua reluctantly swam away with Terra. She was loathe to leave Sora all alone with Riku in that cave. It was obvious that the human was desperate to return to the surface world and that the prince would never allow that to happen. How could the two of them continue to get along in those circumstances?  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The work that had been done inside the cave was extensive. There was a main anteroom upon entering it's mouth, and several tunnels led downwards to chambers for sleeping, storage, food prep, sand baths, and a special room where Sora would have his youngling and raise him.  
  


They were given several gifts from the other mers, including trinkets to wear, food to eat and decor to add for their furnishings. Sora was still floored that there were mers who cared about them at all, much less got along with Riku. He thought he was seeing a whole new person when he saw the prince floating with the others.  
  


Eventually the couple was left alone to enjoy their new place. Without the other mer to animate the chambers with their combined song, the cave seemed dark and empty. It made Sora miss his real house and his old room. He missed the sunlight through the windows and the fresh air. He missed the smell of breakfast cooking in the morning. He missed his mother and father's voices. He missed it all.  
  


Riku was watching Sora float about the main room. He didn't know what the human thought of their new home. It wasn't a palace, and it was a far cry from the sort of life he thought they would have. He asked tentatively, "What do you think?"  
  


Sora came out of his wistful thoughts at Riku's question. He spread his arms out helplessly, unsure of how to answer. "It's a cave," he sang in the end. What difference did it make? It was just another dark place to be held hostage in.  
  


Riku grit his teeth, and then he swam down to their new bed chambers. The Trident was released from where it was strapped against his back and wedged into the floor. His gills flared outwards as he beheld his weapon, and then he leaned his head against it.  
  


_Please tell me what I am doing wrong,_ he silently pleaded.  
  


The Trident gave a soft, comforting hum. It glowed a gentle blue, and the inside of the cave suddenly came to life with bioluminescence that originated from the microbiotic organisms that lived along the walls and rooftops. Natural glassy rock refracted that light, and the sandy floor gleamed like sparkling diamonds.  
  


Sora's gills flared in surprise as their new home lit up and bathed everything in new beauty and splendor. "Riku," he sang in hushed notes. "This is amazing. You did all this?"  
  


Riku heard the awed notes from the room above, and he mouthed a heartfelt 'thank you,' to the Trident. Then he swam back up to join Sora. "The others that you saw, they helped. The hardest part was just getting into this mountain, we had to claw through the stone. Then everything had to be smoothed out once we got inside, all this used to be really jagged. It took so long to carry in the sand-"  
  


As Riku explained the laborious process that he went through to put the cave together, Sora couldn't help but feel a little proud of him and amazed that someone was doing this for him. It was hard not to like the prince in that moment, despite all the times in their past when he couldn't stand to be near him.  
  


_If I was a mer from the beginning, maybe.._  
  


Maybe it would have been different.  
  


"There's something else," sang Riku. He grasped Sora's hand and pulled him to the cave's exit. The door was sealed with a boulder after they exited, and then he swam his chosen outside with a grin.  
  


Surrounding their home was a beautiful landscape of coral and all of the wildlife that came with it. Atlantica's light touched everything, and it brought color and beauty to all the things that swam, waved and floated in their part of the ocean. Sora's amazement grew as Riku gave him a tour of their surroundings and he beheld all that spread out before him.  
  


_If I forget about what I was like as a human._  
  


Sora embraced Riku's forearm, holding him tighter as they swam together.  
  


_Could I be happy?_  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Things were better in their new cave. Although they had to work harder in regards to foraging their own food, hunting and maintaining the upkeep of their home, they were not alone. Other mers frequently swam by to check on the new couple and to teach them what they needed to know to live outside of the palace. They fell into a routine, and Sora learned to live by the cycles like the everyone else in the kingdom.  
  


However, he began to change. His scales hardened like armor and sealed off his tail in order to protect what was growing inside of him. Sharp tines erupted from his dorsal fin and tail, and his claws grew longer and curved, turning him into a veritable fortress. Riku could no longer penetrate him for their lovemaking, nor could he easily embrace Sora without cutting himself. Although it was normal for these changes to occur in a mer who was carrying, Sora's case was unusually extreme. Even his coloring shifted from blue to purple, and then went completely black as his blood raced from a rapid heart beat that was tremendously fast, even for one of their race.  
  


Concerned for what was going on, Riku sent for someone knowledgeable in the village to check his chosen's health. A skinny mer with a lime colored tail, sallow eyes and long blond hair responded to the summons. He swam over to their home and introduced himself as "Even," an experienced healer.  
  


He went into the birthing room to examine Sora, and stayed there only briefly before hurrying out with a harried expression on his face. "I have never seen such a horrific case of Instinct in all my cycles of living!" he clicked tensely.  
  


Riku frowned upon hearing Even's assessment. Instinct was common in birthing mers, but usually it presented itself in small ways, such as obsessively gathering kelp for the bed, swimming in circles in the hatching space, or just being a little testy towards strangers. What was happening with Sora was unbelievable; it was like he was turning into a monster before their eyes. What made it more complicated was the fact that he wasn't even a real mer at all - so why would he have Instinct in the first place?  
  


"Are you sure that's all it is?" the prince questioned.  
  


"I can only surmise that the fact that he's carrying a king of Atlantica is the reason that his body is reacting so strongly," replied Even. "He is going to have an extremely difficult laying as a result. I have heard cases where the lack of sleep and eating will cause the death of the carrying mer. All of his body will be consumed to support the youngling."  
  


"Then I'll make him eat and sleep," declared Riku.   
  


Even laughed, his notes full of detached amusement. "Right now you won't be able to get near him without losing one of your fins. I nearly lost my head in there just introducing myself. All you can do is set some food near the birthing shelf and pray to Poseidon that he eats."  
  


"How long will this last?"  
  


"It will last as long as the youngling needs," Even clicked seriously. "And if your son manages to be born, he will surely be affected by the stress of this." The mer swam over to the exit, apparently eager to escape what was going on in the household. "I hope the currents turn in your favor soon, my prince. You are going to have a long, difficult time ahead."  
  


Riku was even more unsettled than before. He swam down to the birthing room to see what it was that had Even on edge, and his entire body went cold at the sight before him. Sora was swimming tight, fast circles in the raised shelf where he would be doing his laying, making the kelp beneath him shred on his sharp fins and fluff up. All of his skin and scales were now pitch black, and his eyes dimmed to a dark amber.  
  


"Sora," sang Riku in disbelief.  
  


Sora snapped his head and upper torso in the prince's direction, but there was no recognition in his stare. He was looking at the prince like a wild animal ready to protect it's burrow.  
  


Slowly, Riku swam over to where they kept knitted ropes of kelp for the bed. He took several stacks in his arms, using slow, careful movements so that he didn't spook his mate. Then he drifted over to where his chosen was perched, and the closer he came, the more Sora narrowed his eyes and hissed threateningly.  
  


The prince burst into motion, snapping his tail to quickly close the foot of space that separated them. He used the kelp as a barrier to protect himself from the sharp blades of his mate's fins as he tried to subdue him. Sora went into a frenzy, thrashing and clawing; his spine bowing and buckling as he tried to throw the mer off him.  
  


The prince was injured several times during the tousle. His blood floated in the water from the scratches he sustained, but he didn't give up. Sora was swaddled in the kelp, and he used it to tie his hands and fins down to keep from dashing or fighting anymore. Once he had the situation under control, he leaned down and sang in low notes into his chosen's auricle:  
  


"I don't care how ugly you make yourself. I still love you."  
  


Riku gently brushed Sora's face with the back of his hands. Now that Sora was forced to hold still instead of thrashing about, his heart rate slowed and some of the black receded to purple. His gills flared long and hard, taking deep gulps of water.  
  


"Come back to me when you're done being an urchin," Riku sang softly. "I miss you."  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


As Even said, it was a difficult pregnancy. Riku didn't know if some of the trouble came from the fact that Sora was not a mer, even if he had a mer's body. The only person in the ocean who had any answers was his father and he could not go to him for help. Instead, he asked the commoners about what he needed to do and took their advice.  
  


Sora was unable to sing properly anymore. He communicated through hisses and clicks in an animalistic way. Meat was the only thing he wanted to eat and he demanded it in large quantities. Nobody could go near him without being viciously attacked for approaching the nesting bed, which he never left.  
  


Riku was the only one who could go near him in relative safety. He would bring food and embrace Sora through the layers of kelp that he kept on top of him. The prince would thrum calming songs that steadied his mate's heart and made glimmers of recognition appear in his eyes in brief moments.  
  


And they waited. With high expectation, with fear and uncertainty, they waited for the time to come.  
  


And it did.  
  


Riku awoke to the feel of Sora's intense shivering. He had taken to sleeping with him in the shelf where the nest was prepared despite it being so cramped, because if there was a risk of his mate not surviving this, then he wanted to be there for every remaining moment. At first, the prince thought that his chosen just needed more kelp to cover him from the cooler waters, but when he touched the other's body, he felt intense heat.  
  


Sora's voice suddenly pitched into a loud, screeching note, and that's when Riku realized that he was shaking with pain. It was time. His excitement shot so high that it could have taken him to the surface. "Sora. Sora, it's happening!" he sang loudly.  
  


Sora was writhing in agony. He sensed an intense ball of fire that started at the top of his tail and was slowly dropping its way down to the bottom. It felt as if someone had taken a knife and was using it to flay him in half. He rolled his body and trashed on his stomach, instinctively arching his back to push out the source of the intense pain.   
  


Riku held onto the other's elbows to keep him anchored down on the shelf, his expression concerned for what his human was going through. "Come on, we can do this. Just a little more. You're almost there," he sang in encouraging notes.   
  


The pain arrived at the lowest point in Sora's tail, and then his scales ripped apart as something began to push it's way out. A baseball sized, emerald globe rolled out of his body and settled into the soft kelp that had been prepared for it. The instant that it happened, he let out one last tortured scream, and the note warbled into relief as he felt his sharp discomfort suddenly vanish. He collapsed into the nest, gills fluttering weakly.  
  


All the darkness in his body began fading, revealing his blue tail and eyes as they normally were. Riku kissed his brow over and over, as if his affection alone could keep Sora's life firmly anchored in the world.  
  


"Are you alright?" Riku asked in a tremulous way.  
  


"...Did I just lay an egg," sang Sora weakly.  
  


The prince gave a soft laugh as he smoothed Sora's drifting hair. "Yes," he sang, his notes full of joy at hearing coherent words from his mate after such a long time, and the fact that their family had made it this far. "Our youngling is here. Thank you. Thank you for bringing him."  
  


"I'm not a fish. I'm a chicken," deadpanned Sora. Then he tried to rise up, but found that it was like moving his body through molasses. "Help me see it?"  
  


Riku helped Sora to sit up and curl forwards so that he could see the egg. It had the look of frosted glass, and within it was a gentle glow. Something was inside, moving slowly.  
  


"It's tradition that the one that carries gives the name," Riku sang to Sora. "When he hatches, that's when you'll tell him who he is."  
  


"Me?" sang Sora uncertainly. "Don't you want to have a say in his name too?"  
  


The prince shook his head in the negative. "Only you have earned that right."  
  


"Alright. I'll think of his name." Sora reached out to gently touch the egg. It's surface felt strong, like crystal. "I won't let you down, little guy. It'll be a good name."  
  


Riku smiled. He didn't think that there would be a happier moment in his life.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


News of the successful arrival of the egg spread through the kingdom. There were celebrations among the people and many gifts were sent to the couple's new home. In the palace, it took all of Triton's strength not to go darting through the waters to see his son's new family. He sent servants disguised as townsfolk to visit Riku with gifts, and then would listen avidly to any and all news that he received about his grandson and how the they were living.   
  


Although he regretted how their relationship had changed, Triton was proud that the prince had come so far in being able to provide for himself and to win the affection of his people. Already, he was thinking of ways to somehow bring his son back home. The problem was what to do about Sora when the time came.  
  


The orca also heard about the good tidings. Braig kept a close eye on their cave and planned for the right moment to attempt to swim in and steal the new egg. He waited until Riku was out hunting before trying to get in, confident that he would be able to handle Sora easily. However, the Trident repelled him with a powerful barrier, effectively putting a stop to his plans.  
  


Previously, Riku used to carry the Trident with him wherever he went, but since its power stopped responding to his every wish, he simply left it staked in their bed chambers. The moment that the egg arrived, a force field appeared around the mountain, preventing visitors from arriving. Little did they know, it was also the reason that Braig's ambitions were foiled. It also had the unfortunate side effect of keeping his chosen trapped.  
  


Sora did not like it. He could only go outside if Riku let him through the barrier. The human tried everything he could to break free. At first he threw rocks at the Trident in hopes that it would somehow deactivate its power, but that didn't work. The same thing happened when he tried to break through the barrier using every manner of item that he could find. He got thrown back by the energy so many times that his head went spinning just thinking about it.  
  


"Why are you doing this?" Sora demanded to know. "What did I ever do to deserve being being locked up like a goldfish in a bowl?"  
  


"It's not me," sang Riku with a frown. "The Trident is acting on it's own. Besides, you're supposed to stay with the egg. You have to be there when it hatches."  
  


"Can't you just shut the Trident off? Or take it with you, then maybe this weird magic thing will move away."  
  


"I'm not leaving you or my son unprotected. If the Trident is doing this then it's for a reason. It might know something that we don't," clicked Riku seriously. "Besides, you should be spending this time eating - and getting rid of those scales."  
  


Sora swam restlessly around the main chamber. Although his coloring was restored and his health improved, his scales were still rock hard and impervious, and his fins were sharp as shards of broken glass. These natural physical changes left no doubt as to what his role was in the protection of their egg. He turned a shrewd stare at Riku over his comment. "Why? I like being this way. I'm built like a tank."  
  


"I don't know what a tank is, but I do know that if you don't fix those scales, we're not going to be playing with each other for a while," sang the prince with an arched look.  
  


That made Sora stop swimming. It was true that they were unable to be intimate since the changes started. There were times when he missed it, like a drug he craved on a visceral level. When he was in his human body it was the same; as if the moment he opened that pandora's box with Kairi he could never go back. He wanted sex, and it made him wish that he hadn't lost his virginity so young. If it wasn't for this base craving, he wouldn't be in the mess that he was in right now.  
  


"You know Riku," Sora sang in clear notes, "someday you're going to see that I'm more than something that you can just play with."  
  


"Really." The defiance in his mate's notes made Riku rise up. His dorsal fins splayed outwards, involuntarily showing his dominance in the relationship. "What exactly is it that I'm going to see?"  
  


"That every day - every cycle," Sora corrected, "I am getting closer to being better than you."  
  


Riku couldn't help the amused notes that he made. He circled around his chosen like a hungry shark, his fins pushing wake water in the other's direction. "You want to boss me around, human?"  
  


"I'm going to get out of here," sang Sora defiantly. He pointed upwards towards the surface. "I'm going home. And until you pick up that Trident and let me out, you can kiss this ugly tail goodbye." Sora made an 'x' motion with his arms, indicating that there would be no lovemaking until then.  
  


Riku narrowed his eyes, and then he shot forth with a fast flap of his tail to tackle the other mer. "I'm going to rip those nasty scales off you, you prickly urchin!"  
  


To the prince's surprise, Sora easily dodged with an upwards thrust of his tail. As Riku slipped past where he once floated, the human pulled down one of his eyelids and stuck his long tongue out at him. "Nice try, but you're going to be playing with your weird pink penis by yourself for a long time. Maybe even forever."  
  


The merman didn't know what in the world got into Sora. Maybe all the time cooped up in the cave was making him crazy, or perhaps the egg laying had changed him. There was a new wildness in him that he had not seen before.  
  


_No, that's not true_ , Riku thought to himself. _He was always like this._  
  


He remembered his Sora as a youngling who would run freely on the beach and splash happily in the water. A human who dared to believe that heroes existed and threw bottles in the water to find them. One who gave himself to wild desires, whether it was to a girl who was destined to break his heart, or to a dangerous mer who would drag him down to the depths at the first chance. A free soul that would face the ocean over and over again, despite how many times it nearly drowned him.  
  


This was the Sora that captivated him since the beginning. The one that made a prince forsake his birthright and dig a cave with his own hands.   
  


He was never going to let him go.  
  


Riku's lips curled into a playful but intent smile. He chased his mate through the chambers of their home, knocking over their trinkets and causing a mess with their wake water. The prince felt like a youngling shooting through the currents of human boats and flying high into the surface air. Only Sora ever gave him that feeling of complete freedom. His Sora. There were no regrets about anything in that moment of pure exhilaration.  
  


The prince eventually managed to pin his chosen to the wall. Their gills flared rapidly to fill their bodies with fresh water. Sora had a disappointed expression on his face, obviously upset that he had been caught, and he wriggled to try to keep Riku away from his tail.   
  


"Noooo don't claw them off!" he protested emphatically. "I like my body armor!"  
  


"Fine," sang Riku in low notes. His aquamarine eyes lidded with anticipation. "I'll just cut the ones that I need out of the way." The mer brandished his claws, indicating how he intended to do it.  
  


Sora pouted. He wanted nothing more than to have some kind of leverage over the prince so that he didn't feel so trapped all the time. There was also a part of him that was thrilled at being caught, because what would come afterwards was going to feel amazing. His desires for freedom and wanting to surrender warred against each other. He closed his eyes, unable to make the decision for himself and hating that he was so weak.  
  


Then he felt something. His eyes shot open. "Wait."  
  


"I'm not going to," warned Riku as he reached for the other's tail.  
  


"I said wait," sang Sora, now renewing his thrashing. "The egg."  
  


Those words made Riku freeze. The two looked at each other, and both came to the same realization. They broke apart to swim at top speed towards the birthing chamber. Sora could feel something calling him. A lone, beautiful note was hanging in the water, and he felt deep in his heart that it was a song only for him.  
  


They crowded around the shelf, and sure enough, the egg was breaking. Fissures broke through the crystal, as if it was cracking from the force of the vibrating tones coming from within. Then it simply flaked apart, revealing a creature that was no bigger than a small pearl. It untucked from the tiny ball it was wrapped in, revealing a beautiful, pearlescent tail of green scales. It had royal fins that were bigger than its whole body, and they spread apart like the wings of a newborn butterfly, tinted with a lighter shade of green and refracting rainbow light. A head of blonde hair revealed itself, as well as eyes as light as the sky.  
  


Sora's mouth fell open. He reached out to cradle the newborn between his palms, scooping him forwards without touching him in fear of crushing him. "He looks like me," he said in complete shock. "But he has your tail. How is that possible? I thought we couldn't mix."  
  


"We did," sang Riku quietly. "This is our son, Sora."  
  


If Sora could have cried, he would have. Instead, his body vibrated the feelings outwards without his thinking. A bittersweet song hung in the air, one that told the tale of how all of his mistakes and selfishness brought him to the most beautiful moment of his life. Everything that he thought was important to him changed the second he beheld his son.  
  


Riku placed his clawed hand on Sora's shoulder. His mate's notes resonated deeply within him, and he also began to vibrate a song that spoke of his own mistakes and selfishness as well. Blended together, it became music of redemption.  
  


The youngling floated between the space of Sora's hands, it's small arms and tail moving in a lively way as it tried to swim. At first, it could only move less than a centimeter, but eventually it grew stronger and managed to gain an inch of distance with every flip of its tail.  
  


"What's his name?" asked Riku quietly.  
  


Sora gave a soft smile. "Ventus."  
  


Riku looked at his chosen askance. "That's a strange name. What does it mean?"  
  


Sora remained quiet a few moments before he answered in a notes that were filled with deep meaning. "It means wind."  
  


The newly named Ventus swam free of the circle of Sora's claws and floated upwards. He brushed against his carrier's face, following the line of his cheek bone until he found his auricle. There, he gripped the line of his lobe with his small claws and came to rest against it, his expression that of innocent contentment. His emerald colored dorsal fins dipped downwards, and he became a beautiful living earring.  
  


  


**To be continued.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author:** Cold Silence  
> 
> 
> **E-Mail:** writer.coldsilence@gmail.com  
>   
>  **Pairings:** Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi  
>   
>  **Warnings:** AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?  
>   
>  **Special Note:** I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

**Unfathomable**

- _Chapter Eleven_ -  
  


Everything changed.  
  


Ventus was a transformative presence in Sora's life. Every pull of water through his gills, every flap of his fins, every thought and action that he took was for his son. A love more powerful than any he had ever known made the rest of the world insignificant. All he cared about was knowing and raising his youngling.  
  


The two of them were always together. Ventus would hold onto Sora's auricle as they swam together, or he would zip around his father like a small green comet orbiting its favorite planet. The youngling was as fast as his namesake; traveling like the wind on the surface. He was also very shy and preferred to remain hidden behind his carrier's ear, where he could duck behind the drifting strands of brown hair.  
  


As his son developed, Sora was starkly reminded of his own father. He wished that he hadn't tried to grow up so fast; that he had cherished his time with his dad, even when they were doing things like sitting around on his research boat. He remembered all the things that he learned from him and lamented that the knowledge was only useful to humans and not mers. Sadly, he didn't know what to teach his son regarding who he was and where he came from, much less the basics of being part of an underwater world.  
  


Mers could not cry. Instead, they expressed powerful feelings through vibrations that came from somewhere deep within. There were several instances when this would happen to Sora and he could not control it. As reality set that he would never return to his home, his lamentations poured out of him.  
  


There were times when Riku would swim to his cave and find it echoing with the sounds of Sora's song. He would find his chosen in the nesting chamber, bent over his youngling with his hands cupping the water around him, transfixed and unaware of his feelings humming out.  
  


It was in those moments that Riku's guilt became almost unbearable, however he could never let Sora return. Now that their youngling was here, he had to stay. Ventus needed him, and truthfully, the prince needed him too. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his mate.  
  


Riku tried to make up for it by granting Sora more freedoms. He let him through the barrier of their home so that he could stretch his fins and show Ventus their world. His chosen was allowed to participate in the gathering of food and hunting. He was sent to the marketplace to trade for pottery and tools needed in the home. For entertainment he attended the festivals and theatrical shows often displayed in the thoroughfare. No matter what the activity, Ventus was there, often drawing excited notes from the other merfolk who were seeing their future king among them. For any other mer, it would have been a full life, but Sora always felt as if something was missing.  
  


It was during one of those outings that he ran into Aqua. She was overjoyed to see him and to meet Ventus for the first time. "Sora, he is beautiful!" she sang happily as she tried to peer at the tiny youngling hiding behind Sora's auricle. "He looks just like you."  
  


"Yeah, he has my whole face," he sang sheepishly. "I was really surprised."  
  


Aqua smiled, and wondered how difficult everything must have been for Sora. To live as an Atlantian despite being human must have taken its toll - and now she was going to add another burden. "Actually, I was hoping to find you. There's someone who really wants to speak with you. Follow me."  
  


Curious, Sora followed Aqua. He was taken to a grotto that was overgrown with flora that was larger than his own body. There, the mermaid pulled aside some of the vegetation, and revealed none other than the King of Atlantica himself.   
  


Shocked, Sora could only give a stunned stare before doubling his body over in a quick bow. "Your majesty," he sang, the notes falling over each other as he struggled to remember all the etiquette lessons that he had been taught before.  
  


"Thank you for arranging this, Aqua," sang Triton to the mermaid. "You may leave us now."  
  


Aqua bowed, and then gave her friend an encouraging look before swimming away to give them privacy. Sora didn't dare look up. The last time that he was in the king's presence, he was so ashamed of what he had done that he couldn't even speak. He felt some of that old feeling creeping in, making his cheeks flush purple.  
  


Triton straightened up his spine as he regarded Riku's chosen. The human still had a dingy tail, which mean that nothing had changed in him since the last time they met. His gills flared briefly before he spoke, "May I see my grandson?"  
  


Sora nodded, and he reached for his ear to coax Ventus from his hiding spot. He herded the little mer forwards with his hands and sang a soft note of encouragement. "It's okay little guy. It's your grandfather."  
  


Ventus tried to stay hidden behind his carrier's fingers. Triton immediately beamed with a radiant smile upon seeing the youngling. "Will you look at that, he has our tail! You are definitely a royal, you little pearl."  
  


Seeing the open joy on Triton's face eased some of Sora's trepidation. "Sorry he's so shy. We had a rough time with the egg, and the healer said that it might affect him. We're hoping that he grows out of it." Sora stretched out his hands to herd Ventus in offering to the king.  
  


Triton made clicking sounds that had no meaning as he gathered the youngling to himself and made faces at him. This seemed to send Ventus into a frenzy, because he immediately began zipping around his grandfather like a bolt of green lightning before returning to hide in Sora's hair.  
  


This made the king chuckle. "That happened to one of our daughters. She was always shy afterwards, but a very dependable girl," he sang with a grin. "So the carrying was difficult?"  
  


"I thought I was going to die," clicked Sora honestly.  
  


"I suppose a human would see it that way." Triton looked Sora over, and then asked carefully, "How is Riku?"  
  


Sora was surprised that the king would ask that at all. All this time he thought that the rift between them was so deep that they would never reconcile. "He's doing great actually. Lately he's been exploring outside of the kingdom. We have everything we need, and he has a lot of friends. He's a good father."  
  


"Friends?" Triton seemed honestly surprised by that. Then he frowned to himself, and sang, "I sincerely apologize for what my son has done to you. If I had raised him to be a better mer, then all of this would have been different."  
  


"It's not all his fault. I was stupid too," sang Sora regretfully. "But you know, when I was going through everything with Ventus, he was really good to me. I couldn't have made it without him."  
  


"And yet he keeps you stranded in the ocean," clicked Triton. "Surely you are not staying here by your own choice."  
  


Sora turned his gaze downwards. It was hard to hide his feelings regarding his freedom. His entire body still hummed with the sorrow of it. "It doesn't matter anymore. Ventus is here now, and I'll never abandon him."  
  


As if to assuage Sora's grief, Ventus began to hum as well. He had yet to make words, but his melody was full of love. Triton's expression softened as he heard it, and he yearned for those moments in time when Riku used to sing like that too. "Are you certain of that, human? You would abandon your world for ours? Your youngling's name means wind."  
  


"You know that?" sang Sora in surprise.  
  


"I know a great many things not of our world," sang Triton imperiously. "My son is making a grave mistake by keeping you here."  
  


"I don't think he even knows how to work the Trident anymore," sang Sora. "Lately its been doing things on its own."  
  


"The Trident obeys the will of the bloodline, but it also follows its own truth. If it were in my hands, you would be returned to your human form instantly."  
  


"You would do that for me?" sang Sora in bewilderment.  
  


"Of course. Shouldn't my grandson see his carrier happy?" clicked Triton seriously.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


From that point on, Sora decided to allow his son to visit his grandfather. It was easy to see that Triton cared deeply for Ventus, and he felt that it was important for his youngling to know his family. Besides, there were things that the king could teach that he could not. He was no mer, and Ventus needed a mer upbringing. Who was better than a lord of the ocean to fill that void?  
  


Unfortunately, those visits had to be held in secret because Riku still didn't want anything to do with his father. Sora was conflicted; on one hand he felt guilty for keeping such a secret, on the other he felt vindicated. After all, his mate's feelings were petty and did not benefit their son. It also felt good to act as if he was not under the prince's full control.   
  


Still, he couldn't hate Riku, especially when he saw how Ventus loved him. The youngling was not shy around his sire, and he would often play in his long hair. Sometimes, when he was feeling particularly proud of having a princely father, the youngly attached himself to the silver strands and splayed his fins outwards to become a beautiful green barrette. It melted Sora's hard feelings towards the other mer whenever Ventus reminded him that he belonged to them both.  
  


They made a lot of memories in their cave. They often played together in the main room; mostly games to teach Ventus how to swim and sing his words. Riku would twine his tail around Sora's and hold him contentedly as they watched their son discover the world. There were a lot of moments of amusement, especially as his chosen learned how his body would change as a result of carrying the egg.  
  


For instance, Ventus fed from Sora's nipples. They didn't grow or become swollen in any way, but they still gave sustenance to the tiny youngling that would cling to his nubs with his small claws and suckle. The human found it so embarrassing that he often hid during feedings, which only caused Riku to tease him about it.  
  


Eventually Ventus grew his teeth, which made the feedings nearly unbearable because he started to chew. Sora tried his best to switch his youngling to a kelp diet as soon as possible, and would often swim away from his son's attempts to go back to eating the old way. This often led to small tantrums from the youngling, who would start vibrating his disapproval as loudly as he could until his carrier relented.  
  


"You have got to do something about this nipple-biter," pleaded Sora to Riku. "He's eating me alive!"  
  


"I can't blame him, you're really tasty," sang Riku with amusement.  
  


Sora pouted. King Triton would know what to do. When it came to dealing with these sorts of issues with his son, he often took advice from the older, more experienced mer. Unfortunately, he couldn't just swim to him anytime he wanted without alerting Riku. "Maybe your dad will know what to do. He's had lot of kids right?" sang Sora tentatively. Carefully testing the waters around this topic.   
  


Riku's expression immediately closed off at the suggestion. "We don't need to ask him anything. We're doing just fine on our own."  
  


"Don't you think you've been mad at him long enough?" clicked Sora in exacerbation. "It's Ventus's grandfather, he should know his family. And there's probably a ton of king-stuff that he's going to need to know."  
  


"I'm not letting Ventus live the life that I did," clicked Riku. "I want him to know the world and have a choice. He won't be king because he has to be. He'll be king because he wants to be."  
  


"So that's it? You're just going to let him grow up without knowing who he is and where he came from?" asked Sora.  
  


"I don't want to go back to living palace life," answered Riku. "I like being out here with you. Doing things my own way, living the way I want. If I make up with Father, I'll have to give all of this up."  
  


And so, Prince Riku and King Triton never reconciled. The cycles passed and Ventus grew older. He became about three yards long from head to tail and his notes formed words. He couldn't fit behind Sora's ear anymore, but he could be hugged and played with in new ways.  
  


Sora wondered how much time passed on the surface. How old was he now? Did his parents stop looking for him? Did they have other kids? Were they even still together anymore? Were they sad? These questions haunted him as he watched Ventus grow. He wondered if they would have been happy to be grandparents, or freaked out that his son had a tail. Sadly, he resigned himself to never knowing.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Ventus eventually became old enough to attend teachings, which was the oceanic equivalent of going to school. The wisest mer would gather all the younglings together and show them how to read and write in their language. Sora found it very difficult to allow Ventus to attend. It was the first time that they would be apart, and Ventus was just as apprehensive. After arriving at the meeting area, he clung to his carrier's arm, refusing to let go and join the other younglings his age.  
  


"What a cute little minnow you got there."  
  


Sora looked up and found himself face to face with an orca with long, black hair that held one silver streak. He was startled to see a shelled eyepatch on the stranger's face, but he tried to be polite and not bring any notice to it. "Thanks. He's really shy, and this is his first time here, so," he sang with a note of embarrassment. Somehow, this merman seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't place where.  
  


"I get it! First time letting him away from the pod. It's got to be hard. You're going to be all alone, he's going to be all alone." Braig leaned his body to the side to get a better look at Ventus, which earned him a poisonous look from the youngling. "What's with that face! You'd think I just stole his favorite clam."  
  


"I wouldn't take it personal, he's just used to being around me," sang Sora. He turned in the water to face his son and gently petted his drifting hair. "It's going to be alright, Ven. You'll make lots of friends and have fun. And when you're done, you can tell me all about how it went, okay?"  
  


Ventus continued to frown, but he hugged Sora one last time. Then he reluctantly flicked his tail to join all the other young mers who were gathering together.  
  


"He'll be fine," clicked Braig. "He's tough. But just in case, I'll have my nephew watch over him. Lea!"  
  


One of the younglings detached from the gathering crowd. From the length of his body, it was evident that he was much older than Ventus. He was a five foot long mer with an unusual tail that was striated with red and white coloring. Instead of butterfly-like dorsal fins, his were segmented into multiple parts that fluttered together as he swam, but moved individually once he stopped. His hair was long and bright red, and his eyes were a vibrant green. With an air of self-assurance, he stopped before Sora and Braig. "You bellowed?" he sang smoothly.  
  


"You see that little shrimp over there?" Braig gestured to Ventus, who was awkwardly floating on his own. "I want you keep a close fin on him. Make him your best friend."  
  


"The green one?" confirmed Lea with a rakish smile. "He's cute. I'll take care of him." With that, he swam in the direction of the lone youngling.  
  


Sora raised a hand to try and stop the strange looking mer out of instinct, but eventually he lowered it. He had to stop babying Ventus sooner or later, as much as it pained him. Already he missed him, even though he could still see his son right before his eyes.  
  


Braig placed his hand on the other's shoulder in a too casual way as he sang, "So what are you going to do now? You're not going to back to that empty nest are you?"  
  


Sora frowned. He hadn't thought that far. Now that Ventus would be going to teachings, what was he going to do? This was the first time that he had so much time on his hands to spare. "Honestly I don't know. What do most stay-at-home mer do when the younglings are away?"  
  


The orca gave a big grin. "What else? They make more younglings."  
  


A feeling of shock made Sora's body grow cold. Although having Ventus was a blessing, if he had more younglings, then he would be permanently stuck in his current situation. Lately, he had been entertaining the thought that when Ventus grew older, maybe Riku would let him see the surface world again. But if he laid more eggs...  
  


"You know how it goes," sang Braig with a wry expression. "Isn't your chosen waiting home for you now? Keeping the clamshell warm. First time alone in a long time. It's the perfect time to put another egg in you."  
  


"There's no one waiting at home for me," lied Sora. He knew damn well that Riku was waiting back at the cave, and was likely expecting to spend a lot of time with him since Ventus would be away. Sora had been looking forwards to having that comfort, but now it gave him a feeling of foreboding. "Do.. you know of somewhere else that I could hang out at?"  
  


"Even better. I know where you can make friends," sang Braig with a leering grin.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Braig told Sora to swim to the outskirts of Atlantica. There, he would meet mer who were in his words, "Just like you." Sora took it to mean that they were parents who were sending their younglings to their teachings for the first time. However, when he arrived at the designated area, he found something else.  
  


There was a group of mer foraging among the corals who had the exact same tail as him. In all the time that he spent in Atlantica, he thought that he was the only one who had such a drab, boring look - but he was wrong. The group before him had the same simple tail and dolphin-like dorsal fin in colors that had no gradients or luminescence to their scaling.  
  


When they spotted Sora, they swam over to him immediately. They were incredibly friendly and curious. They introduced themselves as Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus, and from the moment they met, he felt included in a way that he hadn't experienced since leaving the surface. Although Riku now had a lot of friends, they never acted casually towards his mate because he was the chosen of the prince. These mer didn't seem to care about his status.  
  


They invited him to join them in foraging. Sora was treated to delicious foods that he'd never had before and was told stories about their travels through the ocean. Apparently these kind mer were adventurers that went from kingdom to kingdom in search of good food and company. Curious about the newest addition to their group, they asked a lot of questions as they circled around him and touched him fondly with their hands and tails.  
  


"So your youngling is going to his teachings for the first time, but you still have those scales?" sang Selphie with amusement. She was referring to the hardened scales that still peppered Sora's tail. Despite Riku's attempts to pick them out every chance that he got, their continued existence proved his mate's stubbornness in holding on to his so-called armor.  
  


"Yeah," answered Sora with a grin. "It annoys the mer I'm with."  
  


"And that person is an Atlantian," chimed in Tidus. "I can't believe it! Those guys are all about their chosens or whatever. If you ask me, being a chosen is like being someone's personal slave. Not for me!"  
  


"Mers should be allowed to do what they want, ya!" agreed Wakka.  
  


"Yeah," sang Sora. He straightened up his spine, feeling as if he was finally speaking among mers who understood his true feelings. "I didn't have any choice. He just picked me and now I'm stuck living in his cave doing what he wants. It's not fair."  
  


"There must be something about you that he really liked. What are you hiding under all those scales?" asked Selphie. She swam over and tried to pick at one of the scales on the base of Sora's tail.  
  


"H-hey!" Sora swam away a short distance, cringing with a purple flush. "That tickles!"  
  


"Come on Sora, you can share. What's the secret. How did you end up with an Atlantian?" sang Tidus. He circled around Sora and lightly dragged his nails in the area just above Sora's dorsal fin.  
  


Sora felt a chill go down his spine, right into his tail. The atmosphere felt electrified somehow, and he was confused as to what was happening. "There's no secret, I was just me." Even as he sang it, he could hear the lie on his own notes. Riku's interest came from the fact that he used to be human, but that wasn't something that he could tell these mer.  
  


"It's not nice to keep secrets," sang Wakka. He touched Sora on the shoulder gently. "We're your friends ya?"  
  


"He's right, we'll take good care of you. We won't make you choose," added Tidus. He placed his hand just above the place where Sora's scales gave way to skin. "Right Selphie?"  
  


"Right!" she sang. Selphie wrapped her arms around Sora's neck in a loose embrace.  
  


Sora was starting to get an inkling of what was going on, but he couldn't believe it. Were these guys like swingers? Even at his most wild with Kairi, they never even dreamed of bringing another person into the relationship. "..Uhm.." he sang uncertainly.  
  


Just then, two very long appendages floated into his vision. At first he didn't know what he was looking at, but then it dawned on him like a bolt of lightening. Those were penises. Tidus and Wakka were flashing their penises at him! He felt as if someone had just dumped him in a bath of ice water. Sora was so flabbergasted that he could hardly speak. "W-wait! That's not---!"  
  


Suddenly a ray of light cut into the corals next to them. The three mer immediately dived away, leaving Sora spinning in their wake water. A hand pressed itself to his shoulder to steady him, and when he turned to see who it was - he found the prince with a thunderous expression on his face and the Trident in his hands.  
  


"I leave you to send our youngling to his teachings, and this is the first thing you do as soon as you're alone?" clicked Riku angrily.  
  


"It's - it's not what it looks like!" sang Sora desperately. "I just met those mer, I had no idea --"  
  


"You!" Riku ignored what Sora was saying and brandished his weapon at the cowering merfolk. "How dare you try to mate with MY chosen!"  
  


"We didn't know your majesty!" sang Tidus in shrill notes. "We thought he was one of us!"  
  


"We had no idea that your chosen was a scavenger!" added Selphie. "Nobody ever told us!"  
  


"We're really shocked, ya," clicked Wakka.  
  


"He isn't like you. Don't ever come near him again," clicked Riku, before flicking his tail in a rude way and dragging his mate off by the wrist, leaving the three scavengers to stare off in shock.  
  


Once they were away from the group, Sora asked Riku, "What do you mean I'm not like them? I look just like them."  
  


"You're not like them," repeated Riku with a scowl. He stopped swimming to turn and face Sora. "Those fish mate with anything that moves and leave their younglings scattered all over the ocean."  
  


That stunned Sora. As the information sank in, he began to grow angry. "Is that how you see me?" he sang with a sharp edge. "Is that why you gave me this tail?"  
  


"What?" Riku gave Sora a stare. "Why are you even singing that?"  
  


"The Trident obeys the will of the bloodline," he answered, repeating what he learned from King Triton.  
  


"And it also has its own truth," finished Riku in notes of disbelief. "You went to see my father, didn't you?"  
  


Sora's lips stretched into a defiant line. "He's Ventus's grandfather."  
  


"You took Ventus?" Riku's notes grew louder, his gills flaring wide as his notes mixed with shock and anger.  
  


"Why not! Ventus deserves to know who his family is. Why does he have to suffer just because you're so selfish?" countered Sora just as loudly.  
  


"I'm selfish? You took Ventus to see him without asking me. And we both know that the real reason you wanted to meet with him is so you can go back to the surface," hissed Riku.  
  


"The surface is where I belong! I'm not happy here. You've done everything you can to make yourself happy - but what about me," clicked Sora.  
  


"Doesn't Ventus make you happy?"  
  


"I had a life before Ventus!"  
  


"That life is gone!"  
  


They argued the entire way back to the cave. Upon arriving, Riku raised the Trident up and a powerful forcefield billowed into existence around their home. It was the first time in a long time that the weapon obeyed him so completely and clearly.  
  


The intent behind the barrier shocked Sora. He couldn't believe that Riku would willingly go this far just to trap him. "You can't keep me here!"  
  


"I can and I will. You're mine Sora. Believe that," clicked Riku.  
  


Sora felt something inside crumble to pieces. All thought that he could ever be happy living a mer's life broke along with his heart. He swam away to the sleeping chambers which soon became filled with his mournful vibrations.  
  


Riku knew as soon as he heard the sorrowful notes that he had done something terrible - but what else could he do? Sora proved to be naive enough to nearly make a blowfish out of him by swimming with those promiscuous mer. Even worse, he thought that the Trident gave him an ugly tail because of his own will.  
  


_No Sora. You look like that because that's how you think of yourself._  
  


But Riku couldn't sing those words out loud. He didn't want to hurt Sora in that way. So instead, he staked the Trident into the anteroom of their home to guard his mate until he could figure out how to fix this. The first idea that came to mind was to bring Ventus. Their son always brought them happiness, so he left to find him.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Ventus was shy with the other younglings and stayed off to the side of group. He would have stayed that way all throughout the teachings, but he was approached by an older mer with a red and white striped tail. Although he was apprehensive at first, eventually he accepted Lea's attentions.  
  


It was the first friend he ever had. Lea was interesting and playful. As they got to know each other, Ventus hoped that his parents would let them meet again.  
  


"Hey," sang Lea in his softest note. "Is it true that the one that carried you is a human?"  
  


Ventus turned a curious look to the other mer. "What’s a human?" he asked.  
  


"You know. Those weird monsters that live on the surface," he explained.   
  


"He's not a monster," protested Ventus.  
  


"But if he is a monster, and you came from him, doesn't that make you a monster too?" asked Lea.  
  


Ventus stared down at the seafloor as he tried to process this. Could he not fit in with the other mer because he was a monster himself? His fins wilted at the thought.  
  


"Don't feel bad," sang Lea. "I like you even if you are a monster. We'll be best friends, right?"  
  


Ventus looked up at the other mer, who was tilting casually in the water as he awaited the answer. Slowly, he gave a nod.  
  


"Ven!"  
  


Ventus recognized those notes. Instantly his fins perked. He barely had time to lift his hands up before Riku swooped in and grasped him in a hug. "Hey tough guy. How was your first teaching?" asked the prince. He spun his youngling around as he held him close.  
  


"I made a friend," sang Ventus. "His name is Lea and he has a lot of stripes."  
  


"Stripes huh." Riku was so involved in swimming away with his son that he didn't even spare a glance to the aforementioned Lea, who was left floating in their wake water.  
  


The striped mer gave a smirk as he watched the two swim away. Braig revealed himself from the corals that he was hiding behind and swam over with a seaweed satchel full of lava glass. "Good work, Lea," sang the orca with an impressed tone. "Here's the spoils, as promised."  
  


"I told him all the stuff that you wanted me to tell him," sang Lea as he received the bag. "But I don't get it. Why convince him that he's half human? Do you just like torturing younglings?"  
  


"Nah, just trying to win a bet," clicked Braig with a rakish grin. "Do me a favor and stick with the little guy. Make sure you get real close to him."  
  


"As long as you keep paying me, that won't be a problem," promised Lea with a grin.

{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku brought Ventus back to their home. He gently carried his son through the barrier, and they both passed easily. "Ven, go to Sora," he urged the youngling. "There's something I have to take care of."  
  


Ventus nodded, and then he swam into the cave to seek out his father. Left alone, Riku swam towards the local foraging areas in search of Namine. It took some time, but he finally found her collecting edible flora. He tapped her shoulder and said apologetically, "Sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk."  
  


The blonde mermaid looked surprised. "Of course, my prince. Someplace more private?" At Riku's nod, she gathered up her things and swam with him to an area with quieter waters.  
  


When they arrived at the private spot, Riku didn't immediately start talking. Instead, he swam in agitated circles, his fins folding and unfolding with uncertainty. This behavior drew a concerned look from Namine. "Prince Riku..." she began.  
  


"I have a confession to make," he interrupted. "My chosen is not a mer. He is a human."  
  


A look of shock washed over Namine's face. That expression remained as the prince described the entire situation, beginning from how he found Sora, to how he was transformed, to now living as a mer thanks to the power of the Trident. As she came to understand the situation, she said in hushed notes, "So when you said that he wasn't like other mer, that's what you meant."  
  


"Yes," answered Riku. "He means everything to me, but all he wants is to return to the surface and go back to the human world. What should I do? He can't possibly leave, we have a youngling together."  
  


Namine folded her hands together and stilled her tail, taking her most respectful pose as he considered her words. "Younglings don't keep mer together, it is the vows that they take as chosen. It's a decision that comes from the heart. If he has not made that choice for himself, then you can't force it, my prince."  
  


"Then what should I do?" asked Riku plaintively. "I can give him anything he wants. How do I get him to stay in the ocean?"  
  


Namine swam over to the prince and gently placed her clawed hands on the merman's forearm. "You can't," she sang quietly.  
  


The prince scoffed and turned away from her. "You're no different than my father."  
  


"Human, mer, no matter what he is, you have to put yourself in his fins." Namine tried to swim into Riku's field of vision. "If you want him to swear his heart to you, then first you must understand him. How would you feel if you went through all that he did?"  
  


"I know he's not happy. I've tried everything to change that, but nothing ever changes," clicked the prince in bitter notes.  
  


"That's why you can't make him stay in the ocean," sang Namine somberly. "You must set him free so that his heart can be made whole."  
  


"And what if he never comes back?"  
  


"So be it. If he is truly your chosen, then you must put his happiness before yours."  
  


"Even if I wanted to, I can't do that to Ven," lamented Riku. He felt utterly stuck in his current situation. Having a youngling complicated his decisions. No matter what choice he made, he knew the one who would suffer the most was his son. The sheer frustration of it all vibrated out of him in a way that it never had before.  
  


Namine was surprised by the poignant feelings that the prince was expressing. She never knew that he had been suffering this much in secret. The mermaid quietly embraced him to comfort him.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Ventus found Sora in the sleeping chambers. As all younglings his age, he did not call to him as Father or his Carrier. Instead, he sang a simple set of notes that only ever changed with his intonation. They could be sharp or gentle, slow or fast. For now, it was concerned, as expressed in the questioning way he addressed the vibrating mer.  
  


Sora stopped his sorrowful notes when his son came to him. He knew that he couldn't show sadness in front of Ven. His own father had never cried in front of him, and now he understood why. Someone had to keep it together in order to give confidence to vulnerable children. As he embraced his son, he wondered how much his parents kept hidden from him for his sake. "Hey Ven," he sang with greater courage. He felt bad that he relied so much on the youngling for strength, when it should have been the other way around. "How was your teaching?"  
  


"I learned this!" sang Ventus with excitement. He floated down to the sandy floor and drew what appeared to be some sort of lettering.  
  


Sadly, Sora didn't understand any of it, which disheartened him. It was yet another thing that he would not be able to help with. "That's really good. What does it say?"  
  


Ventus sang the note that it presented, eager to share the knowledge. "I made a friend too. His name is Lea. He has stripes."  
  


"Friends are nice," sang Sora, feeling his mood lighten a bit. "Does he have stripes like a lionfish?"  
  


"Yeah, but my tail is still better." Ventus puffed up chest and held out his dorsal fins to proudly display them before his carrier.  
  


That earned a flat look from Sora. "Please promise me that you won't turn too much into your Dad. There's more to life than just pretty fins, you know."  
  


Ventus lowered his fins and swam close to his father. "Is it true that you use words like 'Dad' because you're a human?"  
  


A stunned look colored Sora's face. "Who told you that?"  
  


"Lea told me," sang Ventus. "He said that makes me human too. If that's true, then I want to see the surface world! We can go right?"  
  


"No, we can't. Mers aren't allowed to go to there, and your Dad wouldn't like it," explained Sora.  
  


"But we aren't mers!" Ventus sang emphatically. He swiftly swam out of the bed chambers to the main room.  
  


Sora followed his son through the tunnels, and when he emerged into the same area, he it bathed in crackles of energy. Ventus was pulling the Trident out of the floor. "No Ven!" he clicked in shrill notes. "You can't touch that!"  
  


"You won't have to be sad anymore," insisted Ventus. The Trident was larger than he was and difficult to carry. Blue lightening crawled over its tines and surrounded his small body. Instantly, the barrier around the home ceased to exist. The youngling pointed the weapon at the boulder that sealed their cave, and it was blown off the mountainside with a blast of power.   
  


The mountain shook as if it was in an earthquake. Things were falling everywhere, and it was all Sora could do to swim towards Ventus to try to make him put the Trident down. However, as soon as he got too close, he was repelled by the weapon. "Ven, you have to stop!" he pleaded in loud notes.  
  


"I'm taking us there so no one is sad anymore," sang Ventus defiantly. In his mind, he was making the right choice for the adults who couldn't get it together. He was fixing own home and family in the most direct and simple way that a child could conceive. So he floated through the door, fins streamlined with determination. "Let's go!"  
  


It was all Sora could do to follow him and try to convince him to stop this crazy idea. He didn't know where Riku was and there was no telling if it was safe for Ventus to handle the Trident. "Ven, people on the surface breathe air and we don't. We can't just go up there like this."  
  


"Then I'll make us human," declared Ventus. He stopped his swimming and laboriously pulled the Trident up. "Turn us human!" he sang at the weapon. It responded by showering them with luminescent light, and when it faded, nothing changed. They still looked exactly the same.   
  


"It's not working for you," sang Sora with realization. "Just like it didn't work for Riku when he asked it to change me." How could he have forgotten? Back then, the prince had tried to change his tail, but failed. Just what did that mean?  
  


Ventus frowned. He couldn't figure out how to fix this problem.  
  


"Whoa, what's with the light show around here?"  
  


The two mers turned to the familiar voice. Braig was floating nearby, along with his presumed nephew, Lea. The latter swam around Ventus with a big grin. "Is that the Trident?" he sang with great interest. "That's so jelly! Can I see it?"  
  


Ventus tried to hand over the Trident to Lea, but as soon as the redheaded mer tried to touch it, his hand was zapped with a small prick of power, earning a strong "Ow!" and a follow up "Never mind.."  
  


Braig was looking at the interaction with great interest. Then he lowered his notes as soft as they would go and sang to Sora, "I am so sorry."  
  


Sora gave the other mer a perplexed look. "Why?"  
  


"Well, this is awkward," sang Braig. He brought his hands to his face, as if he had just been caught in something terrible. "I was swimming around here, minding my own business, until I saw the prince."  
  


"Riku is here?" asked Sora. "Where?"  
  


"I wish I wasn't the one to have to tell you this." Braig placed his hands on Sora's shoulders and steered him over to an outcropping of rocks. Upon reaching it, they were able to look down into a grotto, where the prince was currently floating with a blonde mermaid.  
  


Sora's eyes went wide. They were hugging. In all the time that he had known Riku, he had never seen him show any affection whatsoever to anyone that wasn't himself or Ventus.   
  


"You guys never had a ceremony I hear," clicked Braig. "I don't know how you can stand it. Just being someone's option."  
  


In that moment, several hard truths made themselves known to Sora. The reason why Kairi could love him and leave him easily was because he was only her option, not her choice. The way that he had treated Riku from the moment they met up until now, was because the mer was only his option, not his choice. And because they had all treated each other in that manner, Sora now found himself as just an option for the second time in his life.  
  


It was the most degrading feeling he ever experienced, and he had no one to blame but himself. He looked back at Ventus and realized that he would be the one to suffer the most from all of that selfishness. Every part of him wilted at that reality.  
  


"Don't look so saggy. These things happen," sang Braig. "Tell you what. I'll take you to a place where you can relax and think about everything. Unless you want to go back to your cave?"  
  


Sora mutely shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to become trapped in that cave again. He wondered if Riku went cavorting with other mers whenever he was stuck home. The thought of it turned his heart to ice.   
  


"Good." Braig's lips twisted into a sinister grin. "Come on Lea. We're going to Noctis."  
  


"Right. Let's go Ven!" clicked the striped mer.  
  


Innocent of what his carrier just witnessed, Ventus followed his new friend with the Trident in tow.

  
  
  
  
**To be continued.**   
  
  



	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author** : Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail** : writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
> 
> **Pairings** : Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings** : AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note** : I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

**Unfathomable**  
- _Chapter Twelve_ -  
  


Riku didn't immediately return to his home after meeting with Namine. Instead, he swam directly to the palace. The attendants were surprised to see the prince coasting through the gates, and they barely had time to bow before he passed by them.  
  


He didn't stop swimming until he was in the throne room. His father was there, and he was consulting with Sebastian concerning throwing a turning party for his grandson.  
  


"Av' cawse we canna pull dis off!" boasted Sebastian. "We kin throw da biggest pahdy an' yo' son won' 'ave any idea-- aaaaaaaah!" The crab covered his mouth when he realized that said prince had just lowered his face into his field of vision.  
  


"A party without me?" clicked Riku with a displeased expression. "Neither of you know Ventus if you think he'll be happy to celebrate without me around."  
  


"Ventus?" clicked Triton in a sheepish way. "Who's going to have any celebration with Ventus?" He exchanged a look with Sebastian, whose expressive face clearly screamed WE ARE LYING, and he flared his gills in a sigh when he realized that the jig was up. "Sora told you, didn't he."  
  


"He told me nothing," sang Riku in a flat note. "I have you to thank for that."  
  


Triton belatedly realized that his meddling caused strife in his son's relationship with his chosen. He looked guilty as he pushed off his throne to float over to Riku. "It was not my intention to cause any trouble, I only wanted to see my grandson."  
  


"Then you should have asked his parents first," hissed Riku.  
  


"I did. I asked his carrier," answered Triton with an arched look. "Or does his song not matter?"  
  


"I was not told!"  
  


"I did not tell Sora to keep our meetings a secret, he chose that of his own accord," sang Triton. "You have no vows between the two of you, so he can raise his youngling as he sees fit. You know the law. The younglings belong to the carriers, and the carriers can raise the younglings as they wish if there are no vows. I am willing to wager my tail fin that you did not inform him of this."  
  


"So you took it upon yourself to tell him," glowered Riku.  
  


"No, I did not," sang Triton. "I did not tell him because I did not want him to take Ventus away to the surface world. I would never see my grandson again. That was my selfish reason. What was yours?"  
  


Riku turned away. He didn't answer, but he didn't need to. They both knew very well that the prince's reason was the same. The prince didn't want to lose Ventus or Sora to the humans that they came from.  
  


"My son, I understand how you feel. I went through the same thing with your mother," sang Triton. Upon seeing the dubious look on Riku's face, he explained, "I was just like you. A strong, handsome catfish." The King fingered his mustache as he smiled indulgently. "The richest mer in the ocean with the most powerful kingdom. I had my pick of all the mermaids under the sea. Your mother was my perfect match. She was beautiful, powerful, and as intelligent as a nine armed octopus. I thought for certain that we would come together like a clown fish to its anemone. But she despised me."  
  


"What?" sang Riku in disbelief. This was the first time that he was hearing this.  
  


"I know, I was shocked too," clicked Triton. "It didn't matter how many gifts I sent, or how I painted myself, or how I courted her. She made it clear to me that she would never take vows with someone who was selfish and immature."  
  


"You were selfish and immature?" sang Riku skeptically.  
  


"I was and I didn't realize it," answered Triton. "I thought that things would happen to me in a certain way because of my birthright. That I would always have wealth, power, and mermaids who would never turn me down. My eyes weren't opened until our kingdom began to suffer raids from Scavenger mer. There was a scarcity of food, and they would swim through the markets, stealing everything that they could. Our people fought back and there was civil unrest. I swam there with the Trident, expecting to end the whole situation in one blow. But those mer, I will never forget what they looked like. Emaciated, so skinny that I could see right through them like transparent tetra. I could not strike them down with the power. Instead, I detained them with my own bare hands and tail. It was such a fight that I was bruised from face to fins afterwards, but we apprehended them all.  
  


"I told them that I would be speaking to their king, and to my surprise, he was among them and starving just the same. He told me that they lost their kingdom to the orca, who ravaged their coral and left their foraging grounds destitute. The Scavengers had scattered all over the ocean, left to fend for themselves. That's when I realized that everything that I have, my kingdom, my birthright, all of that could be stripped away in a cycle. If that ever happened, who would I be at that point. Would I still be strong enough to swim with what was left of my people as this king did? Would I still hold my tail with pride when I had nothing left, like the mer before me.  
  


"From that moment on, I ruled my kingdom not as a prince, but as a fellow mer struggling to make it in this ocean. I realized I was nothing without the blessing of the people beneath me. I could no longer define myself by what had been given to me, but by what I carved out with my own claws. It wasn't until I began to live and rule in this manner that your mother finally give me a second look. She knew what I was lacking, and thank Poseidon I was able to find it before she found someone else."  
  


"But I have been living that way," protested Riku. "I've done everything I could on my own."  
  


"I can't tell you how proud I am that you have," sang Triton. He placed his hands on his son's shoulders. "It wasn't until I let you go that I realized how much I have been stifling you. Look at all that you've accomplished on your own. Your people adore you. They would follow you even if you did not have a crown on your head. I have heard the songs myself."  
  


"That's not what I want," sang Riku. "All I want is my family. I want them to love me."  
  


"Then there is still something that you are missing, my son," clicked Triton. "I have faith that you will find it. I know that there exists a good mer within you."  
  


They were interrupted by a wibbling sound. The mermen looked over to see Sebastian holding his face in his hands. "Dat was boodiful!" clicked the crab. "Fauda an' son togeda again!"  
  


The two males looked at each other, and then laughed in embarrassment. Each realizing that finally, they could once again be family.  
  


"You know, I came here to tell you to stay away from Sora and Ven," admitted Riku. "But I've changed my mind. Just no more secrets, okay?"  
  


"You have my word," answered the King.  
  


Just then, the palace pitched into darkness. Alarmed, the mermen swam to the nearest opening to see what was happening to the rest of Atlantica. Sure enough, the light was being pulled away, like a shadow being passed over the kingdom.  
  


"The Trident," clicked Triton in somber tones.  
  


Every fin went up in alarm in Riku's body. Immediately, he darted in the direction the exit. He had to check on Sora and Ventus. "I'm going back," he sang to his father.  
  


"Not alone," answered Triton. "Sebastian, call the royal guard. We must protect the kingdom and my son's family."  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The way to Noctis was longer than Sora expected. They had to travel through fast moving currents that swept them far away from the kingdom of Atlantica. Ventus clicked happily as Lea showed him how to streamline his fins and zip away faster than any hard swim. Sora relied on Braig's guidance to do the same, and soon they were hurtling through the ocean like streaking comets.  
  


When they left the rushing waters, they found themselves in drastically different terrain. The sea floor was bubbling with vents that gushed hot pockets of air that floated upwards. Anything that went near those holes was instantly scalded. There was also a lot of human debris on the seafloor. Old shipwrecks covered in barnacles and small fish were decaying on top of the dirty silt below.  
  


Sora knew a bad neighborhood when he saw one. It made him think that leaving with Braig was a big mistake. "Ven, stay close to me," he sang sharply. When his youngling returned to his side, he swam as protectively as he could despite the danger of being so close to the Trident. "I changed my mind," he clicked to the orca. "We should go back. I need to talk to Riku instead of just going away."  
  


"Awww but we're already here," sang Braig. He gestured ahead of them, where a large, craggy mountainside rose up from the ocean floor. It was lit up with a strange red glow, and as they circled closer they would see that it came from an active lava flow that surrounded the mountains like a moat. Behind the first range of hills, they would see several smaller ones that served as housing for the orca. When the denizens saw them swimming close, they stopped what they were doing to openly stare at them.  
  


"Don't mind them, they're not used to atlantians dropping by," sang Braig. "I know you're just itching to have it out with your philandering prince, but you should at least say hi to our king before you go swimming back. It would be rude to just go."  
  


Despite his misgivings, Sora knew that this was true. Since he was attached to Riku, the way he presented himself affected the prince's reputation. He didn't want to cause any trouble, so he relented. "Alright, but we can't stay long. Ven has a clam time."  
  


The mountains wrapped around a deep valley in a circle, and central to it all was a cave entrance whose exterior was carved into the shape of a serpent. Ventus stopped swimming as soon as he saw it and hid behind Sora.   
  


"This is so jelly," sang Lea with excitement. "I've never been in a palace. Come on, don't be a guppy." He swam ahead to the cavern, his striped body disappearing into the gaping darkness. Sora looked at Braig uncertainly, and the orca gave him a careless grin. Despite feeling unnerved, he swam into the black hole with Ventus in tow.  
  


They found themselves descending downwards into a long, deep abyss with many bends and forks. It was lit up with red bioluminescent algae that dotted the walls. Several stern and muscular orca guarded the tunnels, and they gave unfriendly looks to the newcomers that were swimming through. They seemed to go on forever until they finally arrived at the throne room.  
  


Sora's gills flared in deep shock. They were in a massive chamber with a single spire that rose high above them and acted as the throne for the king. Below them was a thick collection of bones. Skulls, chests, arms - and impossibly - hips, femurs and feet were crowded on top of each other in disorganized piles. There was no doubt in his mind that the remains were definitely human.  
  


"I apologize if you find my decor disturbing," sang a voice from above. The old king of Noctis gave Sora and his son a large smile that showed rows of fanged teeth. "Those are collections from the kings that came before me. The spoils of war, if you will."  
  


"What are those?" asked Ventus. He pointed innocently to the unfamiliar bones below.  
  


"Humans," answered Xehanort with a grand gesture of his hands. "Hundreds of them. Did you know that once upon a time, the mer considered them a delicacy? The flesh and blood of a human has an exquisite taste that is unmatched in all of the ocean."  
  


Sora felt as if a piece of ice had just wedged itself into his tail. He couldn't help but think back to all the times he had been together with Riku as a human. How eager he had been to swallow him up...  
  


"Those were the days," added Braig as he swam around Sora and Ventus. "We used to lure them to the waters and then snatch them up. They always had a thing for shell-less mermaids and music. As soon as they lean in for a kiss, wham!!" He slapped his clawed hands together. "Dinner was served."  
  


"Nasty!" exclaimed Lea. He wore a face of disgust at the very thought of eating humans.  
  


"You sing out of ignorance, young mer. You can't criticize what you have not yet tasted," admonished Xehanort. "But alas, the days of eating humans ended when the Trident was gifted to the atlantians. It was henceforth decreed that all mer were to never surface, and in time, the memory of the delectable taste of man was forgotten."  
  


Ventus swam over to Lea, who was listening to the story with a sickened expression. "You see," sang the youngling emphatically. "Humans aren't monsters at all."  
  


"Heh. It kind of sounds like mers are the monsters," clicked Lea uneasily.  
  


Sora felt intensely uncomfortable. He didn't think that Riku saw him as food, but what about the other mer? Did King Triton know? The only thing that he was certain of was that he had to leave immediately. "Actually, I wanted to apologize for barging in like this," he sang in his most formal tone. "I had a fight with my chosen, and Braig thought it would be a good idea for us to come here for a while. But I realize now that I'm imposing, and really, I should be stronger than this when it comes to facing Riku."  
  


Xehanort gave Sora a grin. "Who can blame you. A human forced to be at the side of an atlantian prince. Never to see the light of your sun ever again. Turned into something," and here, he gestured toward Sora's tail, "depraved."  
  


"You know?" sang Sora in tremulous notes. His tail fin began to curl as the shame of what he had done haunted him again.  
  


"It's true?" clicked Lea in disbelief. "Both of you are really human?"  
  


"There's nothing wrong with being human!" interrupted Ventus. He swam in front of Sora, clutching the heavy Trident to his chest. The youngling gave everyone gathered a defiant look. "There's nothing bad about mers liking humans, even if they're tasty. They made me. I'm here because of them!"  
  


"Ven," sang Sora softly. All this time, he didn't realize how much his problems with himself and with Riku were affecting his son. He fooled himself into thinking that Ven was too young to fully understand and process things, but now he could see that that youngling had been thinking of it all along. In the end, he had to smile, because a irrefutable truth had been sung. If it weren't for his foolishness and his attraction to the mer prince, Ventus would not be here. "Thank you," he ended sincerely, and his tail unfolded from its curl.  
  


"I find it concerning," clicked Xehanort. His eyes narrowed at Sora and Ventus. "A weapon as powerful as the Trident should not fall into a human bloodline. It belongs to mer who are worthy." The old king rose up from his throne, and a purple light illuminated from his right hand. "And none are more worthy then the orca!"  
  


Xehanort pointed his hand at the Trident, and light shot forth from it to surround the weapon. Ventus flared his gills as he felt the weapon jerk, and despite his best efforts, it was ripped out of his small claws. "That's mine!" he protested.  
  


"What are you doing?" clicked Sora in alarm. "That's property of Atlantica!"  
  


Ventus tried to swim after the floating Trident, only to be stopped by Braig. The orca grabbed him by the wrist so suddenly that he freewheeled from the hard stop. "Hey hey," he clicked as he restrained the youngling. "You're in the presence of a king. Show some respect."  
  


"Respect this!" clicked Sora, moments before he whipped his tail fin at Braig. His partially armored scales made contact with the orca's face with the force of a snapping whip, causing him to release Ventus with a pained sound. "Get out of here Ven!" he clicked to his son. "Swim as fast as you can!"  
  


Braig stopped nursing his stinging face when he realized that Ventus was going to make a break for it. "No one's leaving this party early!" he sang loudly. The orca attempted to give chase, but was stopped when Sora grappled his tail with his claws. "Get off me you sucker fish!" The two wrestled for control, causing the both of them to tumble heads over fins.  
  


"Don't hurt him!" clicked Ventus. He attempted to come to his father's aid, but was forced stop when a beam of purple energy nearly seared him. Xehanort was grinning cruelly as he targeted the youngling for attack.  
  


Ventus darted through the water, taking sharp turns and narrowly dodging the old king's power. With every near miss, the forks of light caused bones to explode upwards and craters to appear on the cavern walls. The youngling headed for the throne room's exit; barely managing to swim past the guards who were unable to keep up with his speed.  
  


"After him Lea!" clicked Braig as he continued to struggle with Sora.  
  


Throughout the fiasco, Lea was watching the events unfold with a horrified expression. Upon receiving instructions, he broke from his trance and swam after Ventus.  
  


Braig eventually managed to grapple Sora into a submission hold. The human's arms were forced behind his back and his tail was constricted by the orca's. Despite this, Sora continued to bow his body in a struggle to escape. "When Triton founds out what you did, you'll be sorry!" he clicked angrily. "The Trident doesn't belong to you. You can't even use it!"  
  


Xehanort used his power to bring the weapon beside his throne. It floated next to him with a lazy spin. "You speak the truth, human. The Trident will only bend to the will of those with royal blood of the atlantians, or so we believed. Thanks to your promiscuous behavior, we have confirmed that even a bastard son of Atlantica is capable of wielding the power. Since it is unlikely that King Triton or his headstrong prince will act on behalf of Noctis, the simple solution is to create another bastard of our blood."  
  


Sora balked at the very notion of what Xehanort was suggesting. "There's no way Riku would ever want to do that. You're crazy!"  
  


Xehanort grinned, and then he waved his claw tipped hands as if he was conducting a symphony. Power coalesced around his fingertips, and he directed it at the scattered remains in his throne room. Pieces of a long dead human rose up and danced in a macabre way to the magic that animated it. The bones connected together like a jigsaw puzzle, forming the shape of a human - but its hips were inverted and the toes pressed together to mimic the skeleton of a mer.  
  


Sora watched in horror as volcanic glass peeled away from the walls of the throne room and merged with the bones to form an artificial skin, the material becoming smoother and smoother until he was looking at a glass statue so refined that he could see his reflection on its face.  
  


"Behold, how easily you are replaced, human!" crowed Xehanort. The strange amalgamation of human bone and sea glass grinned, and then moved fluidly, its body turning to flesh and scales with each sinuous turn. It transformed into a mer that looked exactly like Sora from head to fins.  
  


Now realizing Xehanort's intention, Sora wilted at the very thought. "No," he sang tremulously. "You can't."  
  


"A marvelous creation, is he not," sang Xehanort proudly. "I call him Vanitas. A fledging made solely to carry the seed of my lineage to the foolish prince. I have spent many cycles creating him from the time that I learned of your existence."  
  


"Riku would never fall for it!" clicked Sora, his notes coming more shrill than he intended.  
  


"Stop flapping your gills," sang Vanitas. His notes were exactly the same as Sora's, pitch for pitch. He gave the human a derisive look. "What the prince thinks doesn't matter, it's what he wants. And we all know the one thing he's ever wanted from you. I'm just going to give it to him, over and over again."  
  


"Don't you dare go near him!" sang Sora. He attempted to jerk his way out of Braig's grasp, but found himself completely immobilized by the orca. He could only watch in horror as the doppelganger swam away, laughing darkly as he embarked on his mission.   
  


"As for you human," clicked Xehanort smoothly, "I've always wanted one of your kind as a pet. I think you will do nicely."  
  


Braig pressed his hand over Sora's mouth. Something hard and bitter was forced past his lips, and he struggled to push it out to no avail. Whatever it was became lodged in his throat and oozed a disgusting taste. His vision swam, and his fast beating heart began to pound in triple time. An overwhelming feeling of dread rose up from his tail and overtook his body. The last thing he saw was his vision turning black before he completely lost himself.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Ventus had been darting through the tunnels of the underground palace in a frenzy. Everywhere he turned, armed orcas confronted him with viscous intent. If it weren't for his small size and speed, he would have been caught several times over.  
  


Sadly, he was running out of energy. It was all he could do to find pockets of shadows to hide in while the guards swam by, his fins flattened and his gills flapping wide to take in huge gulps of water. He was so terrified that his skin and scales took on a bluish tint from the fast rush of blood.  
  


When a hand covered his mouth, he immediately started trashing to escape.  
  


"Be quiet," clicked a familiar voice. "It's me!"  
  


Ventus stilled his frenzied movements and turned wide eyes to the one holding him. It was Lea, who was doing his best to keep his own body hidden in the shadows. A soft, questioning note was sung at the striped mer.  
  


Lea slowly took his hands away from Ventus. His expression was clouded with disturbed feelings. "I'm sorry. If I had any idea that this would happen, I would have never gone along with Braig. I thought I was getting paid to play a prank. I had no idea that he was aiming for the Trident."  
  


"What happened to my dad?" asked Ventus plaintively.  
  


It took Lea a few moments to realize that Ventus meant Sora. He was unfamiliar with the word that was used to describe him. That fact alone made it all the more apparent that he was not dealing with ordinary mers. "Your carrier? I don't know. We can't do anything about that now. What we have to do is hide you."  
  


"But what about my dad?"  
  


Lea placed his hands on Ventus's shoulders. "When King Triton finds out about what happened, he will take care of everything. We just need to make sure that they can't use you as leverage when the time comes. All you have to do is follow me. I'll keep you safe until the tides change."  
  


"Won't that make your uncle mad?" asked Ventus uncertainly.  
  


"He can kiss my fins. He's not my uncle," sang Lea unhappily. "He offered me sea glass to make friends with you, but there's not enough of it in the ocean to make up for what just happened. I know I've been a sea slug of friend, but let me make up for it. I'll take you where no one can find you."  
  


Lea held out his hand to Ventus. Slowly, the youngling reached out to accept it. Then they swam away together.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Riku frantically searched his home for his family, but there was no one there. Only darkness and an echo to the singing of their names. Several guards from the castle had accompanied him, and upon confirming that no one was there, they swam in all directions to search the nearby waters for the missing family.  
  


The fact that the Trident was also missing alarmed the prince. It crossed his mind that Sora and Ventus may have gone to the surface world.  
  


_Would he do it?_ wondered Riku. _Would he just abandon me?_  
  


The prince went off on his own to check the nearby grottos. Upon arriving, his gills flared when he spotted a familiar drab tail. "Sora!"  
  


Sora was sitting on a rock outcropping, alone. He turned in Riku's direction upon hearing his name, and then he floated up to meet with him. "You found me!" he sang happily. His arms circled the prince's body and he leaned flush against him. "When the light disappeared, I didn't know what to think."  
  


Riku gave his chosen a tight hug and felt a huge relief. Sora had not abandoned him. "What happened?" he asked. "Where's Ventus?"  
  


Sora flinched, and then he lowered his head. "I couldn't control him. He was mad because he was picked on at his teachings. So he grabbed the Trident and swam off with it. I don't know where he went."  
  


"He was picked on?" sang Riku with a frown. When he saw Ventus earlier, his son talked about making friends with a striped mer. Nothing was mentioned about being bullied. "Which way did he go? We'll find him."  
  


Riku began to pull away to give chase to their missing son, but he was stalled by Sora's hand on his wrist. At the prince's questioning look, the human sheepishly lowered his head. "Is it bad that I want him gone for a little while?" he sang quietly.  
  


"What do you mean?" clicked Riku in disbelief.  
  


"I mean. We haven't been alone for so long. I missed you," sang Sora. "I was hoping that now that Ventus was going to his teachings, that you and me..."  
  


Riku remained silent as he looked at his chosen.   
  


"Are you really going to make me sing it?" continued Sora in embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.  
  


"Yes," sang Riku seriously. "I want to hear you sing it."  
  


Sora fiddled his fingers with a shy expression, and then he sang tremulously, "I want to do it with you."  
  


The prince continued to be quiet. Then he reached out to gently brush Sora's hair with an intent gaze. "I would have given anything to hear you say that," he sang quietly. His caressing hands trailed down the other's cheeks, and then encircled his neck in a vice-like grip. "But I know you never will. My Sora never gives it up that easy, and he wouldn't pick sex over Ventus. Who are you? Where is Sora!"  
  


The look of confusion on the doppelganger's face changed to a smirk. His eye color morphed from blue to gold, and his hair and scales darkened to black. Before Riku could process what he was seeing, Vanitas viscously clawed his chest. The shock and pain from the attack loosened the prince's grasp enough to let the fake Sora escape.  
  


Vanitas laughed darkly as he swam some distance away, only to loop around and charge Riku with a burst of speed. Despite the waters becoming murky with his blood, the prince readied his claws to meet the attack, only to miss. The doppelganger's tail slapped his back with enough percussive force to leave him stunned. "Too slow!" he clicked gleefully.  
  


Riku struggled to regain his bearings and was unable to fend off Vanitas's next maneuver. The doppelganger immobilized him by approaching from behind and entrapping his tail with his own. He grabbed a fistful of his captive's long, silver hair and forced his head back, causing his neck gills to pull open. They flapped weakly to keep water moving into his body, but their capacity was halved due to being overstretched. Riku instinctively grasped the hand tugging his hair with both of his to abate this.  
  


"I thought that an atlantian prince would be a bigger challenge. What a disappointment," clicked Vanitas. "You're nothing without your Trident and fancy palace. Just a seahorse whose only worth is for breeding."  
  


The doppelganger moved his free hand to the scales that started below Riku's navel. The gesture made it clear what he intended to do. A surge of horror and disgust filled the prince at the mere thought of the violation that was intended against him.   
  


In the past it would not have been a big deal. Vanitas looked like Sora, and he knew that the moment they connected, he would enjoy it immensely. However there were real consequences that he ignored in the past that he could not afford to look away from now. This would hurt his family. He would never be able to look at them without feeling his own shame. He would never be able to look at himself without seeing his own weakness. His people, all of Atlantica, would be let down.  
  


For the first time, he realized that this was what Sora had been feeling all this time and why the Trident had given him such a drab tail. They had already apologized to each other for how their relationship started, but only now he felt deep in his heart how powerful his mate's forgiveness had been.  
  


The prince released the vice-like grip that he had on Vanitas's wrists. Then he curled his fingers together to bring his claws into tight rows and raked them through the hair that was held hostage by the other's grasp. The silver strands ripped cleanly from the cut. Water rushed back into his gills as his head returned to its natural position, and he used that first burst of strength to drive both his elbows into the assailant behind him.  
  


Vanitas doubled over and loosened his tail as a result of the blow. Riku escaped upwards, his wake water causing the loose hair and blood to scatter and obscure their vision. "You can't escape!" clicked the doppelganger as he gave chase through the mess. "Your tail's mine!"  
  


Suddenly, Vanitas's rapid ascent was cut short when a golden mer with tiger stripes barreled into him from a 130 degree angle. He was shoved into an outcropping of rocks, where he found himself struggling against the very powerful push of Terra's body. His gill slits were covered by the siren's hands, causing him to slowly fall into stasis from lack of water flow. "You'll pay for this," he clicked darkly as his consciousness faded.  
  


"Sorry, not sorry," answered Terra, who remained steadfast in his control of the orca's body.  
  


Riku swam next to Terra upon seeing that the situation was handled. It was evident that he was still shaken from the attack by the light purple flush to his skin and scales. "I can't thank you enough," he sang plaintively. "How did you find me?"  
  


"The nose knows what it knows," sang a voice from Terra's seaweed satchel. Nemo tucked his head out with a proud smile. "I can smell you a fathom away."  
  


"Thankfully it's not too bad of a smell," chimed in Aqua. She floated over from where she had been hiding behind some coral in hopes of adding to the surprise attack. "We looked for you as soon as we heard that the light had left Atlantica." Upon seeing Riku and the state that he was in, she looked taken aback. "Your highness.. your hair."  
  


As if realizing it for the first time, Riku touched the nape of his neck. Sure enough, the long, silver fall of his hair, a sign of the prince's pride, had been chopped to just below his head. "It's nothing," he sang after a pause. "What matters is that I find Sora and Ven. This mer came to me as I was looking for them. He looked just like Sora before."  
  


"He still does," sang Aqua as she beheld the doppelganger. "What kind of magic is this?"  
  


"Definitely from an orca," chimed in Nemo. "He smells just like one."  
  


"Can you tell me where Sora and Ventus went?" Riku asked the small clown fish.  
  


Nemo swept some water into his nares to sniff before answering. "Yeah. He went in the direction of the currents. The ones that lead to Noctis."  
  


"Then that's where I'll be going," sang Riku with determination.  
  


"Not alone," clicked Aqua with a frown. "There is no way that you can take on all of Noctis's defenses by yourself."  
  


"My father will send reinforcements. But right now, I can't wait. Sora and Ventus are out there and I need to bring them home."  
  


"I'll go with you," offered Nemo. He swam out of Terra's pouch and went to float by Riku's shoulder. "Those guys are lucky. A sire that will swim the ocean to look for you - it's the jelliest thing."  
  


Riku gave the clown fish a grim smile of thanks. "Terra, please take that orca to my father," he clicked as he gestured to the unconscious Vanitas. "Explain to him what's going on."  
  


"Are you sure that you want our help?" commented Terra. While the others were talking, he was using threaded ropes of kelp to bind Vanitas's gills so that he stayed tame. "The mers will think that you're allying with Lumina."  
  


"I don't see anything wrong with that," sang Riku, much to the surprise of the sirens. "If the orcas are finally making their move, then there's nothing to stop atlantians from doing the same."  
  


"Finally," sang Aqua in relief. She took some of Terra's kelp and mashed it into a pulp, which she used to treat the wound on Riku's chest. "I'm also going to Noctis," she announced. At the reproachful look that she got from Terra, she added, "Someone has to make sure that the prince survives this. Besides, since they don't have vows, Sora won't have any allies, just foolish friends to swim by him."  
  


Terra continued to look unhappy, but he knew that he couldn't fight her stubbornness. "Fine, but I'll be joining you as soon as I can."  
  


The two sirens look at Riku, expecting him to say his usual line of not needing help. Instead, the prince smiled, and then his expression turned determined. "Let's go."  
  


They took off in the dark waters, heading in the direction of Noctis. They swam at a speedy pace that was full of purpose. As they passed through the kingdom of Atlantica, its denizens recognized the silver tail of their prince. Instead of cowering and hiding like the first time the Trident was stolen, the mer picked up heavy rocks and sharp stones, and followed their liege to the open waters.  
  


By the time they cleared the outskirts of the kingdom, the water churned with the push of hundreds of tails moving in the direction of Noctis. It was an unprecedented gathering of mer that had never been seen before.  
  


"Riku," sang Aqua in quiet notes. "I think you should say something to them."  
  


Riku pivoted in the middle of his swim, and was taken aback by the sheer size of the gathering. It rendered him speechless.  
  


"We're ready to fight alongside you my prince," sang Namine from the crowd. The voices of a hundred mer chimed in, making the ocean thunder with their song.  
  


"Stop.. stop it please," sang Riku in dismay. "I don't deserve any of this. I lived spoiled and selfish. I did what I wanted and I didn't care about the consequences. My own father threw me out of the palace, and rightfully so. My mistakes caused the mess that we're in now. I don't want any of you risking your lives for someone like me."  
  


"Your majesty," sang a mer from the crowd. "I watched you claw your own cave with your own hands. You live and hunt in the same waters that we do. You work like an ordinary mer. If that's a spoiled life, then the rest of us have been spoiled too."  
  


Agreement swept through the crowd. Riku couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You don't know what it is that you may be getting yourselves into," he sang plaintively. "I'm going to Noctis. It's dangerous there."  
  


A trio of familiar mer swam ahead of the crowd to chime in.  
  


"The atlantians took us in when we lost our kingdom to the orca," sang Tidus. "And now the prince has a chosen that looks like us. He won't even share him!"  
  


"Ya," added Wakka. "Even though we're different, we've been accepted here. That's worth fighting for."  
  


Another wave of agreement went through the mers. Riku flinched as if he'd been burned by the last comment. "You're wrong. Sora is..."  
  


"He is family," sang a booming voice. The crowd automatically pulled back and bowed when King Triton arrived on a giant clamshell pulled by two sharks. He was accompanied by his soldiers, and floating next to him was a sight that had not been seen for several cycles.  
  


"Mother?" sang Riku in disbelief.  
  


Indeed, it was Queen Athena. She floated down from her place on the clamshell beside her husband. "My son!" she sang joyfully as she pulled Riku into a tight embrace. "It has been so long!"  
  


"Why are you here?" sang Riku in disbelief. He returned the hug, seemingly dazed by what was going on.   
  


"I came for the turning ceremony of Ventus, but it seems that I got more than I bargained for," she answered. The queen leaned back so she could examine Riku. Her fingers threaded through his short hair, and a concerned look was given to his wound. "Your father told me about the trouble that you've been having. Why didn't you reach out to me?"  
  


"You were far away," sang Riku. Even as he said the words, he knew them for the excuse that they were. The real reason was his stubborn pride.  
  


"There is no distance when it comes to family," she chided Riku. "Hasn't your father taught you that?"  
  


"Believe me, I tried," clicked Triton as he joined them.  
  


"Sorry," sang Riku sheepishly. "I was being a hammerhead about a lot of things."  
  


"We're not going to have a decent turning ceremony if we just float around," sang Triton. "Let's go get our grandson and his carrier."  
  


A song of triumph swept through the gathered masses and the soldiers. Then they resumed their steady swim to the kingdom of Noctis.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The orca were expecting some sort of retaliation from the atlantians since they now possessed the Trident. Their sentries were on high alert as they patrolled the waters and waited for the inevitable invasion.   
  


They expected soldiers. What they didn't expect was an entire kingdom to come bearing down on them in a school of moving tails, fresh from the fast currents. Triton and Athena each headed a battalion that split the horde of atlantians and their allies into two groups that flooded the valley of the orca from opposite sides, forcing their enemy to fight on two fronts. The water roiled with the sound of weapons clashing and tail fins slapping, all while a song of battle echoed endlessly.  
  


Riku's only concern was finding Sora and Ventus. Nemo swam quickly to lead the prince and Aqua to the serpent-shaped palace entrance, which had been sealed shut with a giant boulder. While the soldiers fought, he planted his claws into the hard rock and tried to pull it upwards. Upon seeing this, several atlantians gathered around to help with this task.   
  


"We'll help too, prince!"  
  


Riku baulked as Splash and her pod descended from the blackness above. The mers wasted no time creating makeshift harnesses out of sea girdle for them. They speared the stubborn rock with their weapons and used them as anchors for triple threaded lines of kelp that they attached to the dolphins.  
  


"Why are you here?" sang the prince to the unexpected reinforcements, completely dumbfounded.  
  


"Do you think we never listened for you for you after you stopped visiting?" countered Splash. "Distance doesn't destroy friendships. Are you going to disagree with that, you naughty mer?"  
  


"No," sang Riku with a shake of his head and a warm smile. "I won't say that."  
  


Once the dolphins were latched to the boulder, they generated an upwards force with their swim bladders and tails while the mers also pulled. Slowly, the rock budged upwards, billowing a red cloud of sand in its wake. They didn't stop until it was completely extracted and flipped onto its side, granting them the complete freedom to storm the underground palace.  
  


Waiting inside were orcan soldiers. The waters filled with blood as the armies clashed like rival anemones fighting for territory. Riku and Aqua fought fin to fin as they pushed their way through and rushed through the labyrinth with Nemo leading the way.  
  


"We're almost there, I can smell them!" clicked Nemo. He didn't stop swimming until they arrived at an enormous throne room. When the mer emerged behind him, they were aghast at the sheer amount of bones that littered the floor.  
  


"Is that..." sang Aqua, hardly daring to describe out loud what she was seeing.  
  


"Humans!" sang a voice from above. Braig was floating towards the ceiling, grinning as if he was thoroughly enjoying all of this. His uncovered eye glowed in gold as he beheld the intruders. "They were really tasty. But you already know this, right Riku?"  
  


"Where's Sora!" demanded the prince.   
  


Nemo cowered behind Aqua upon the arrival of the orca. The mermaid held her sword in a protective way and scanned the chamber for any enemies. She saw movement underneath the bones. "Riku!"  
  


The prince rolled his body to the side just as the remains exploded upwards. A black figure filled with spines and sharp scales rose up, moving as sinuous as an eel. A note mixed with alarm and dismay pealed out of Aqua.   
  


"I gotta tell ya, I've never seen such a horrible case of Instinct in my life until I met this weird mer," sang Braig with a grin. "Talk about ugly."  
  


It was Sora, but he no longer appeared as he did before. His body was so black that he was like a shadow. There was no sign that he recognized his friends. Instead, he rolled through the water with his fins spread out and sharp claws exposed in warning.   
  


"Sora!" sang Riku with shock. This wasn't the first time that he saw his mate in this shape, but what he didn't understand was how this could happen. Sora was not carrying anymore, so there was no reason for him to transform.  
  


"I think you better give up on your human," suggested Braig. "The only thing he wants to do is eat and scratch things now. You're better off having a pet sponge."  
  


"Shut up!" clicked Aqua. "How could you do this to our friend!"  
  


"This is my fault," sang Riku. "I brought him into this world. I turned him into this. But no more." He gave Sora a determined look. "I won't let you stay in this nightmare." The prince released his sword, allowing it to float away. Then he spread his arms out in a peaceful gesture. "When you're done being an urchin, come back to me."  
  


Riku was answered with a hiss from Sora. He shot towards the prince like a black arrow, fangs and claws bared. Instead of banking away to avoid it, the prince maintained his float and caught his chosen in his arms. His was immediately flayed by all those sharp edges, which mercilessly trashed against his tail fin and tore gashes into his flesh.  
  


"No!" protested Aqua. Braig's laughter caught her attention, and she swam towards him with her weapon in hopes of permanently shutting him up. Unfortunately the orca wasn't easy prey, and he kept his distance from the mermaid while antagonizing her.  
  


Meanwhile, Riku sank into the bone pile with Sora, which gave way and swallowed them up. He could feel his mate's heart thundering and skipping beats. His chosen hissed like a wild animal and flailed against him. The prince kept his bleeding tail wrapped around the other's to prevent him from escaping.  
  


"It's alright," he sang quietly to his human. "It doesn't matter what you look like. I still love you."  
  


The prince's body vibrated with a sincere song of simple love. As if mesmerized by it, Sora stopped squirming. His gills flapped fast and hard as it struggled to meet the demand of the breakneck pace of his heart.   
  


Riku nuzzled his mate's face and took his lips in a kiss. Sora's reaction was to solidly bite, and for several tense moments, they were locked in a painful embrace. Then by degrees, his jaw slackened, and the prince's tongue went inside.  
  


High above the bone field, Aqua was doing her best to defeat Braig. The orca had a crossbow fashioned from human bones and the tendrils of a jellyfish, and he kept the distance between them by using this weapon to send urchin spikes hurtling in the mermaid's direction. Every time they made contact, she could feel the sharp sting of poison entering her body.  
  


"Give it up," clicked Braig. "No one cares about your sappy little kingdom. You've been whoring yourself out to the prince for nothing. At the end of the day, he only cares about his human."  
  


"Heh. At one time I would have agreed with you," sang Aqua. She favored her left shoulder, which was burning from a spike that managed to embed into her skin. "But not anymore. He wouldn't have so many friends now otherwise. Definitely more friends than you!"  
  


"Friends? Give me a break. What good are they for?"  
  


"Everything," sang the prince's voice. Aqua and Braig looked down, and saw a badly damaged Riku clawing his way up through the bones. He was pulling a semi-conscious Sora out of the pile, whose body was slowly turning purple as it faded back to its normal colors.  
  


"How did you get the arum seed out of him?" asked Braig with an arched brow. "Not that it matters. If you touched it, then you're as poisoned as he is."  
  


Riku managed to pull Sora completely free before losing the ability to move his tail. His pallor was turning pale as the effects of the arum seed that he pulled from his mate's throat made themselves known.  
  


"Now that we have incapacitated the prince, it's time that we put an end to this battle," sang a new voice. A figure detached itself from the shadows of the high throne, revealing itself to be Xehanort. The Trident was floating behind him, its glow completely muted behind a wall of darkness.  
  


"Your aim was to claim the Trident for your own," hissed Aqua. "But it will never happen. Only the royal blood of an atlantian can wield it."  
  


"This is true, but that is no matter. There is more than one way to conquer a kingdom. I can wait until the prince and an orca are seeded, or he can obey my commands now. Either way, I am a patient mer."  
  


"I would never.. do any of those things...!" seethed Riku angrily, his notes halted by the poison.  
  


"You will," sang Xehanort ominously. He raised his hand upwards, and a red glow gathered into his palm. Immediately, all of Noctis began to rumble. The mers that were battling outside were completely taken by surprise. The ground glowed red, and then plumes of lava shot upwards, destroying homes and melting rocks. Everyone scattered away in hopes of not being burned, some not so lucky as they were scalded by the unexpected attack.  
  


Even the throne room became superheated as lava flow came drifting over the bones. It was all Riku could do to raise himself and Sora off the ground before they became victims of it. The cavern shook from the pressure, and pieces of rocks came raining down, some coming dangerously close to smashing Braig.  
  


"Are you insane?!" hissed Aqua. "You'll crush your own people!"  
  


"The people are replaceable. It's the lineage that matters," sang Xehanort. "Even the Trident knows this truth. Otherwise, anyone could wield it. Now prince Riku. Are you ready to obey?"  
  


Riku looked down at the listless Sora. He thought of all the mer that fought by his side today, and even those who tried to help him when he was at his worst, like Sebastian, Flounder, Splash and Namine. He thought of his son and the future he would have.   
  


Finding his own happiness never crossed his mind. In that moment, what mattered was the world in front of him, and how he would fashion it for everyone.  
  


"The Trident has its own truth," sang Riku. Then he turned his gaze up and raised his hand. Instantly, the weapon jolted as if something invisible had just yanked it.  
  


"You're not allowed to have that yet," clicked Xehanort. He stretched his own hand to the Trident and used his power to keep it at bay. Black lightening crackled from his hands to surround the weapon and keep it firmly locked away.  
  


Riku continued to try calling to the Trident, his hands shaking with weakness. Then he felt a touch to his shoulder, and he looked down to see Sora gazing back at him.  
  


"For Ventus," sang his chosen. Sora placed his hand on Riku's wrist to help steady it. Instantly, a fork of blue lightning lanced from the the Trident to connect to the prince's fingers. The weapon surged past the barrier of darkness, which clung to it like an ugly piece of tar that stretched back to Xehanort. It was caught in the tug of war between its rightful owner and the one that coveted it's power.  
  


The backwash of power sent Aqua and Braig flying backwards. They became helplessly plastered to the walls as the wake waters pushed against them.  
  


"For everyone," sang Riku.  
  


The Trident resonated strongly with the prince's desire, and it finally broke free of Xehanort's hold and flew soundly into the waiting hand of the atlantian. It's velocity was so great that it dragged Sora and Riku back a few feet once it was caught.  
  


When Riku grasped the weapon, the world vanished around him. He suddenly found himself in clear waters that were dyed with golden reflections, as if he had swam to a heavenly ocean. A voice spoke to him.  
  


_What is your desire._  
  


The answer came easily for Riku.  
  


The Trident hummed, its music all encompassing and beautiful.  
  


It granted Riku's wish.  
  


  
  
  
  
**To be continued.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen - Final

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author** : Cold Silence
> 
> **E-Mail** : writer.coldsilence@gmail.com
> 
> **Pairings** : Riku x Sora, some Sora x Kairi
> 
> **Warnings** : AU, Yaoi, Het, Mpreg, mer/human sex. Does that count as bestiality?
> 
> **Special Note** : I swear to god that this is the very last time that I write a non-human fic with Kingdom Hearts. This story is purely a bodice ripper. I did it for the tentacle sex. And to do Mpreg at least once. God save us all.

**Unfathomable**  
- _Final Chapter_ -  
  


In Atlantica, the younglings that had been left behind were gathered in the palace. They were huddled around piles of bioluminescent algae that were hastily pooled together before the soldiers and citizens left to fight.  
  


Sebastian and Flounder took care of the small mers by delivering food and soothing their worries. Many of them were vibrating with so much anxiety that the sand beneath them tremored.  
  


"Der der," clicked the crab as he tried to console one of the saddened children. "You 'ave nouding t' worry aboud. Da king and da prince will return vicdorious, an' all da mer will be wid dem."  
  


"Y-yeah!" agreed Flounder. "Once they get the Trident, it's gonna be like -- bam!" He swam in a circle, trying to simulate hitting something with his short fins but mostly just spinning. "And wham! A-and they'll definitely win."  
  


"But what if they don't get the Trident?" asked one of the younglings. "What will happen then?"  
  


Sebastian chuckled. "Dun worry. Da Trident 'as es own trudh. Do you know wad et is?"  
  


The younglings leaned forwards in anticipation to learn the secret. Even Flounder swam a little closer in eagerness.  
  


Sebastian drew into his tallest pose, as if he was going to say something profound "Da trudh es dat nouding es more impordan' den family n' de connecshions wid yo' friends."  
  


"That's it?" clicked a youngling in disbelief. "That's what's going to help them win?"  
  


"What a load of sea cucumber," added another mer.  
  


Sebastian gave the children an annoyed look. "Why do you dink dat yer family es figding now? Es for all of you! Now. Let us pass da time wid some music."  
  


The younglings sang frustrated notes as the crustacean tapped a rock with his claw to signal the start of a song. Even so, they were willing to sing, if only to help ease their tension.  
  


"Ah won, an' a two," clicked the crab, before bellowing happily, "Unda da Sea!"  
  


"Under the Sea," chimed the younglings in high and low tones that blended into a sweet chorus. "Under the Sea!"  
  


Flounder swayed his body to the music, but occasionally looked through the carved windows of the palace in hopes of seeing everyone make it home.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


By the time Terra made it to Noctis, the battle had reached its crescendo. The mers were caught by surprise when the lava flows began to shoot vertically from the sea floor, burning anything that came in contact with the hot liquid. There were serious injuries among the atlantians and their allies, as well as among the orca. Those left on the battlefield were disoriented from the carnage, and then a shaft of white light spat out of the palace caverns, making it appear as if the serpent head was belching a plume of power.  
  


Everything was thrown into white relief, and then became silent. When the mers could see again, they discovered that the entire valley of Noctis was completely flattened. Instead of small hills, lava flows and signs of life, the terrain was smoothed over with white, glittering sand.  
  


The orca were gone. Not a single mer with a black and white tail remained. The atlantians were stunned as they looked for the enemy but found no one. Then their searches turned to each other. They called for chosens, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters who had gone into battle and vanished in the aftermath. King Triton was among them, and he called for his missing Athena and his son's family with frantic song.  
  


Then, circles of light appeared on the sea floor. The sand tremored as more and more of them appeared, dotting the shaking landscape like polka dots. Harmonic sounds of power reverbed through the ocean as missing mer burst upwards from the iridescent pools in small vortexes that left them spinning. Songs of despair turned into pure joy as friends, relatives and allies appeared from the sand, perfectly intact even if they had been mortally wounded before.  
  


King Triton caught his wife as she emerged from her own plume, and he swam her in a happy circle as they reunited.  
  


"What has happened?" sang Athena in confusion.  
  


"Take a look my queen," answered Triton with a grin. He held her close as he gestured to the valley below. "We have won."  
  


Terra swam through the rejoicing mer, desperately searching for the one that mattered to him the most. The sand beneath him illuminated, and Aqua sprung forth with a note of confusion. She was immediately caught in a tight hug from her chosen.  
  


"Terra--" she clicked in recognition, but that was all she was able to communicate before she was swept up in a deep kiss that left her cheeks turning purple.  
  


The scavengers swam in circles around each other and the dolphins pealed in victory as they reunited. Everyone believed that the conflict was over since there was not a single orca in sight.  
  


One final pool of light appeared, and from it emerged Sora and Riku. Unlike the others, they rose up as if billowed from a hidden fountain of water. They were holding each other's hands as they arrived, perfectly healthy and healed from their wounds. The only exception was Riku's hair - it remained shortened as it had been before the battle.  
  


They were greeted with songs of praise and victory. The two mer looked at each other, and then Riku lifted the Trident over his head to confirm that yes, it was over now. A resounding chorus of triumph rippled through the crowd in answer.  
  


"My boy," sang Triton as he swam over with his wife. "Were you able to do this with the Trident? To think that you had this ability! Its power has not been used in this way for an unthinkable amount of cycles. You are a natural!"  
  


"I can't take the credit," clicked Riku quietly. "It asked me what I wished for, and I answered."  
  


"Then it was the right answer." Triton rested his hand on his son's shoulder in a proud way. "The Trident doesn't blindly follow anyone's command. I could barely use it to light the chamber I was in when I was your size."  
  


"Is this the carrier of my grandson?" interrupted Athena.  
  


Sora had been intently listening to Riku and Triton's conversation, and was surprised to be addressed by the redheaded mer. It took a few moments to realize that she sang 'grandson,' which meant that she was the grandmother, which meant that she was the queen. He made a strangled note as he hastily moved into a bow. "Y-yes, that's me!" he sang with embarrassment.  
  


Athena placed her hands on the human's face and lifted him out of his bow. She gave him a serious look, one that lasted for several uncomfortable moments. Sora met her gaze quietly, knowing that he was being judged for everything that he was. Even though he was far from perfect, he was okay with this. He could understand where she was coming from as a parent.  
  


The queen finally released his face and gave her final assessment. "I like your eyes. They are strong from experience, but kind with understanding. You have chosen well, Riku."  
  


The prince was relieved when there was no comment about Sora's drab tail, but he was uncertain about how to respond to his mother. He didn't regret choosing his human, but that didn't change the fact that he had yet to be chosen in return. "He's the kind of fish that never gives up," he sang fondly.  
  


Sora felt sheepish underneath everyone's attention. Then he looked around and frowned when he couldn't see what he was searching for. "Where's Ventus?"  
  


The happy expression on Riku's face changed immediately. "You don't know where he is?"  
  


A concerned look crossed the grandparent's faces. All four of them broke apart to look for the missing youngling. They canvased the entire valley, but their efforts were fruitless. Terra and Aqua eventually joined the search, but sadly even Nemo was unable to catch a scent.  
  


"Why are we doing this the hard way?" asked Triton. "Riku, call to him with the Trident. We can get this done before the next cycle."  
  


The prince had forgotten all about the mythical weapon. He raised it up and commanded it to bring him his son, but nothing happened. It didn't even twinkle in response. "Why now," he clicked in frustration.  
  


"It's because you are an amateur," sang Triton. "Let the old mer take a gander at it." Upon receiving the Trident from Riku, the king also attempted to compel it to find their grandson. The weapon glowed briefly, but nothing happened.  
  


Athena gave her husband an amused look. "This is the result of an expert?"  
  


King Triton flared his gills and passed the Trident back to Riku. "It seems that it has presently used up all of its energy."  
  


Riku received the useless weapon with a frown. He thought that its power was limitless.  
  


"I have an idea," sang Sora. There was an inspired expression on his face as he started swimming away from the group.  
  


"What's your idea?" asked the prince. He darted after his chosen, who was heading outside of the former kingdom of Noctis.  
  


Queen Athena and the sirens moved as if to follow as well, however they were stalled by a gesture of Triton's hand. "Wait a moment," sang the king. "I believe that the Trident is going to teach my son one more lesson."  
  


"What sort of lesson?" asked Aqua curiously.  
  


"Possibly the most important one of his life," clicked Triton knowingly.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


As soon as Sora left the battlegrounds, he diverted his swim to ascend upwards.  
  


"Sora," clicked Riku in alarm. "Where are you going?"  
  


"To the surface," he explained. "My dad's boat has really strong listening equipment. If I use it, I think I can hear Ventus if he's singing."  
  


His suggestion was met with silence. Sora rolled his body to look back, and found that Riku had stopped swimming. The prince was holding the Trident in his hands with an unhappy expression.  
  


Sora knew what the problem was. His gills flared with frustration at the fact that the mer was going to be stubborn about letting him go to the surface world now, of all times. "Riku, you have to let me go! Our son is out there. You can't keep me trapped in the ocean like this. I'm not your pet, I deserve better than this!"  
  


"If you could have kept me like a pet back when we first met, would you have done it?" sang Riku quietly.  
  


Sora was stunned by the question. The answer to it was even worse. Yes, he would have kept Riku to himself if he could. In that respect, they were no different. But... "I wouldn't now," sang Sora. "The person that I was back then is gone. That stupid kid who just wanted to sleep with anything just to feel good about himself is not here anymore. You are the father of my son. I respect you and I care for you, but I need to have those things too. Don't you think I'm worth at least that much?"  
  


"Yes," sang Riku quietly. "You're worth that, and more. The problem is not you. It's that I didn't believe that I could be without you. I couldn't see my life without you beside me. But now I realize I'll be okay. Even if you go to the surface world and never come back, I know I can survive. I have my family and friends beside me."  
  


The water became silent between them. A crossroads had just opened up and neither knew which direction to go.  
  


"Sora," sang Riku, his notes filled with emotion. "I wish I could take back so many things that I did to you. I'm going to spend the rest of my life thinking about how I messed up. But even with all that, I still think that we can have something. We can be happy, if we just let it."  
  


The prince lowered the Trident so that its tines pointed at his mate. A soft light illuminated from it and spread towards the other mer. Sora was surrounded in a glowing bubble that made his body vanish from view. A hot sensation ripped down the middle of his tail, and in the next instant, he was shooting upwards towards the surface world.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Sora gasped. Air filled his lungs, and his chest felt open and light in a way that it hadn't in ages. He found himself beached on a sand bank, and he used his hands to push himself off the ground. The feeling of joints on the lower half of his body bending to support his weight made a sound of pure joy escape his lips.  
  


Legs. He had legs again. He touched everything below his waist, feeling skin, light hairs and bones where they should be. Warm tears sprang into his eyes, and finally he could cry for all the times that he couldn't while he was trapped under the ocean.  
  


He didn't know how long he spent rocking and hugging himself. It was dark outside with only the light of the crescent moon illuminating from above. When he wiped his face and looked around, he easily recognized the beach. It was the same one where he grew up and had all of his adventures. There was a city close to it where his old friends and parents could still be living.  
  


Then he remembered Ventus and his purpose for being here. Sora shored up all of his strength and stood up. Something seemed off when he got to this feet, and it took a few moments to realize what it was. He was taller than he was before. There was no mirror to confirm this, but he felt like his limbs were longer and his body wider than the time he left.  
  


_Was I gone that long?_  
  


Anxiety welled up as he thought of how old he could be and what that meant if he were to return to the human world. How much did he miss? Was it too late for him to go back? Was his father's boat even still there anymore?  
  


_Now is not the time_ , he told himself. Sora forced those thoughts out of his head and he rushed to the docks. His legs carried him over the cool sand, and he felt an exhilaration as he ran, completely naked and happy to feel the wind in his hair and against his skin. A nostalgic feeling filled him as he passed the wooden docks, which were haunted with memories of his family, friends, and the days when he first met Riku and Kairi.  
  


Desperation filled him when he reached the marina. He hurried to the slip where his father parked his research vessel and let out a loud "Yes!" when he saw it there. He immediately jumped aboard and climbed up the ladder to the bridge, and pulled the door open.  
  


Everything looked the way he remembered it. He hurried to the dashboard and felt beneath it until his fingers bumped into a metal box that was magnetized to the console. It was pulled out and opened, revealing the boat keys.  
  


_You never changed_ , he thought as he held the keys to his chest. _Thank you_.  
  


He checked the gauges and was relieved to see that the gas tank was full. Then he hit the power button to start warming up the engines and rushed back down the ladder to free the boat from the moorings. The ropes felt heavy and familiar in his hands, and he went through the act of releasing them from the bollards in the fastest way possible.  
  


When he started winching the lines back in, he felt like he was being watched. He looked towards the moon dappled docks to see if anyone was there. The sound of the heavy ropes being secured on the spool stopped as he froze.  
  


There was a man standing there. He had a long, scraggly beard and a sallow face, but those features didn't fool Sora. He recognized his father.  
  


They stared at each other in shock. Everything that he wanted to know about what happened when he was gone was answered in a glance. His father mourned him. His father missed him. His father still loved him. And he was still waiting for him to come home.  
  


Tears fell from Sora's eyes. The boat was already adrift, and the gap between himself and the man on the docks widened. His father stepped forwards to stop him, but he couldn't let that happen.  
  


"I'm sorry!" Sora called brokenly. For all the times that he took his family for granted when he was young, he was so sorry. He abandoned trying to put the lines in properly and climbed the ladder back to the bridge. He could hear his father calling out to him by name, and he didn't dare look back as he jammed the key into the ignition and made the motors come to life. He took the engine out of neutral and eased the throttle forwards. The boat pulled away from the marina and drowned his father's pleas with the sound of churning water and heavy machinery.  
  


_I'll come back someday_ , he silently promised. The boat sped off into the darkness, and he kept wiping his eyes in an effort to see clearly. Guilt was clawing at his heart but he couldn't fall apart now. Ventus needed him.  
  


Everything looked the same out on the surface. The ocean stretched on endlessly without a single landmark in sight. Sora hoped that he would still have a sense of what was beneath the waters, but his human body did not have that ability. He turned on the radar in hopes of getting a better idea of what was under him and bit his lip. The equipment could only do so much; it was inferior to the senses available to the mer.  
  


"Sora!" called a breathy voice.  
  


His heart came into his throat upon recognizing who that was. Sora idled the engines and turned on the flood lights. Then he leaned out of the back of the bridge, and after some squinting, spotted what he was looking for. Riku was in the water, waving back to him.  
  


"Here!" called the mer. The prince dived into the water, only to resurface a few meters away.  
  


_Of course_ , thought Sora with relief. They could use Riku's abilities to find the place where Ventus was last seen. He went back to the bridge and eased the engines back to full power. Together, they crossed the ocean in search of their missing son.  
  


The mer eventually came to a stop and pointed downwards. Sora nodded, and he weighed anchor to make the boat stay put. All of the engines were turned off, and soon the night was filled with the muted noise of water lapping against the vessel. The delicate sound equipment was lowered into the depths as the prince silently looked on.  
  


Sora placed the headphones over his ears. The smell of them reminded him of his father, and he remembered all those weekends that he begrudgingly spent out on the ocean with him. Back then he thought it was a waste of time, but now he could look back and understand that his dad wanted to spend time with him. To know him and love him in his own way, even if he was too stubborn and headstrong to realize it.  
  


Now that he was a father, he understood it all. With that sort of feeling, he closed his eyes and listened.  
  


_Come on Ven. Call to me_.  
  


The sounds of the underwater world filled his ears. Despite losing his sense of direction, Sora was relieved to know that he could still understand the conversations of the ocean. The whales were traveling back to their home, a nearby pod of dolphins were complaining that the water was too cold; all idle chatter that didn't matter at the moment. He used the dials to change frequencies, listening intently.  
  


Sunrise began to color the world. Beautiful pinks, oranges and yellows stained the sky. Riku waited in the water, his expression pensive and worried. Everything he remembered of the surface world was still the same. Its beauty, its adventure. The infinite amount of possibility. He stole the finest treasure that he could find from that place, and now the time had come to give it back. As the morning stretched on, he came to terms with this.  
  


It was close to noontime before the miracle happened. Sora's fingers paused. His brow furrowed as he listened intently. He heard a faint song, one full of sadness and longing. It called to him in a way that no other melody could. A breath of joy rushed out of him. The headphones were pushed off his head and he hurried down the ladder from the bridge. Then he stepped onto the starboard edge of the boat and dived into the water.  
  


The Trident glowed. Riku didn't have time to think before power lanced from it and surrounded Sora's figure. It circled the human's body, causing it to fade into silhouette before reemerging in the form of a mer with a burst of bubbles.  
  


"Found him!" sang Sora with urgency. "He's this way!"  
  


The prince was stunned. Sora's tail was a beautiful gradient of blue, with scales that flashed silver along their edges. Delicate dorsal fins shaped like thin dragonfly wings spread out from his back and beat against the water to add to his speed. His arms were textured with white ghost marks in the shapes of scales that never erupted, leading all the way to his shoulders and down his back.  
  


_Finally_ , Riku thought as he followed. At last, Sora had found a way to love himself again.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Ventus vibrated loudly with emotion. Lea had taken him to a small community that was filled with other striped mers. They lived in a cliffside that was guarded with poisonous anemone. The smell of flora was so thick that nothing would be able to track them there. The older mer ensured that his ward would make it past the natural barrier without getting hurt, and now they were waiting for news in a cave.  
  


"Hey, don't be that way," Lea sang in an attempt to console the youngling. "No matter what happens, I'll protect you." He petted Ventus's drifting hair and hoped that things would turn out okay. He felt responsible for getting the poor guy into this mess.  
  


"Ven! Ven!!"  
  


Upon hearing the unfamiliar voices, Lea swam to the entrance of the cave. His fins puffed up as he nervously prepared to fend off whoever came to take Ven away.  
  


"Dad!!!"  
  


He wasn't prepared for the small green rocket that burst past him and went tearing through the anemone in the direction of the voices. It was all Lea could do to lift his hand uselessly as Ventus sped by. "Wait, Ven - you'll get stung!"  
  


No heed was taken to the warning. Ventus burst through the anemone covered cliffside and swam into Sora's waiting arms. They collided together, filling the ocean with a song of joy as they went adrift.  
  


"I was so scared!" Ventus clicked as he held onto his carrier, his small claws digging into the other's scales. "I thought I was never going to see you again!"  
  


"That will never happen," Sora sang as he held onto his son with a smile. "You're all mine, little fish."  
  


Riku floated close and circled his arms around them both. His smile was relieved, but something bittersweet pulled at the edges. "It wouldn't be much of a turning party without you in it."  
  


Ventus twisted around so that he could also hold Riku, his expression practically blissful. Sora exchanged a look with his mate, realizing that the jig was up concerning the surprise party that was going to be thrown for their son. He knew that the prince was holding back his feelings on that matter for their son’s sake, and that made him nervous.  
  


"What happened?" asked Lea as he floated close. He was staring at Sora as if he had grown a second tail. "Did King Xehanort use the Trident to turn you into an atlantian mer?"  
  


"What?" For the first time, Sora looked down on himself and realized that he was different. He turned his body sharply because he sincerely thought that it was someone else's tail that was attached to him for a moment. "Oh no, did I get even uglier?"  
  


Riku sang an amused note at Sora's reaction. Ventus looked at his carrier and sang stubbornly, "You're not ugly!"  
  


"No, he's not ugly," agreed Riku. "Let's go back home."  
  


"You might want to take this," sang Lea. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a wad of sea leaves that were weaved together. "He went right through the anemone, he's going to need medicine."  
  


"Thanks," clicked Riku as he took the leaves from the young mer. "For this, and for taking care of him when we couldn't."  
  


"Yeah, you owe me!" sang Lea with a flaring of his striped dorsal fins. "In return, I want a promise that I can still be Ven's friend. I don't care if he's human or a royal. Those things don't matter, right Ven?"  
  


Ventus turned pleading eyes to his parents. Sora rubbed the back of his head. "I don't see why not."  
  


"It's true that those things don't matter," relented Riku. "Just don't push your luck on it." With that, he led his family away. Ventus waved to Lea, who returned the gesture with a happy one of his own.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Ven was treated for the sting marks on his body as they swam back to Atlantica. He barely kept still as Sora dabbed at the welts forming on his scales with the medicated sea leaves. Their son wanted to know everything about what happened, but he was given only vague answers in return. His parents didn't want to tell him too much about the adult world, at least not until they had a private moment to discuss it with each other.  
  


Thankfully, when they arrived at their kingdom, another distractor was waiting for the youngling. Light returned to the darkened waters the moment they swam back into the city, and as the curtain of shadows lifted, it was revealed that every mer was waiting for them with joyful expressions on their faces. Among them was the King and Queen, and fifteen beautiful mermaids who sang "Surprise!" and fluttered their dorsal fins upon seeing the family arrive.  
  


Ventus was so shocked that he hid behind Sora. "Who are they?" he clicked nervously.  
  


Sora smiled in amusement as he answered, "Your aunts."  
  


"All of them?" sang Ventus in disbelief.  
  


"All of them," confirmed Riku.  
  


"Wow." Ventus slowly swam out from behind his carrier to look at all those mermaids. "They're all mine.. my family is so big!"  
  


When he saw his son's joy, Riku realized why Sora risked speaking to his father behind his back. There were some things parents could give their children, and some things that they could not. He had not seen his sisters for what seemed an endless amount of cycles, and as they surrounded his family, he felt an empty part of himself starting to fill.  
  


Ventus wasn't the only one who needed this.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


The celebration was seemingly endless. When it was finally over, Triton extended an open invitation for the prince and his family to return to the palace. Riku politely declined, but promised that he would visit. As a show of good faith, the Trident was returned to his father for safe keeping.  
  


By the time they returned to the cave, Ventus was completely spent. He had to be carried home because he became too tired to swim. The stings that he acquired from swimming so recklessly through the anemone were turning red, and Riku was tending to them with more medicated leaves.  
  


They were together in the main room of their cave. Sora was resting on the sandy floor with his tail stretched out and his torso leaned against one of the smoothed rocks that made up their furniture. He lazily watched Riku float with Ventus. Every time he dabbed at a welt, their son would murmur sleepily from the pain and the prince would sooth him with gentle notes.  
  


Riku was a lot of things, but seeing him as a concerned father made Sora willing to forgive the bad. He always thought that the prince was a beautiful creature, but in the moment, even without his long hair, he found a kind of beauty in him that would have taken his breath away if he had any to give.  
  


Riku disappeared momentarily into Ventus's bedchambers so he could lay his son to rest. Upon returning, he floated to where Sora was, and for a few moments, they just looked at each other.  
  


Their intent gazing was interrupted when something pink crept into the corner of Sora's vision. He clicked a note of surprise and tried to bat away at the slim, prehensile tendril that was wiggling upwards. "What is that!" he sang in bewilderment.  
  


Riku's eyes rounded as he beheld the tendril, and he followed its long, slender length down to where it originated from Sora's scales. A huge grin stretched his cheeks as he vibrated with mirth.  
  


"What's so funny?" demanded Sora. He kept trying to edge away from the unfamiliar appendage, which he could only identify as some kind of huge worm, or worse, a parasite.  
  


Riku doubled over with his laughter, his cheeks coloring purple. It took a long time before he was finally to regain his composure enough to speak. "Sora... that's _you_."  
  


"Me?!"  
  


"Yes!"  
  


Sora looked at the strange thing again, noting its sleek and smoothed texture. He followed it down, finally understanding that it was attached to him. A few moments later, it finally clicked. "Oh my -- is that my.... that is my... it's so _long_."  
  


"I actually wasn't sure if you had one of these things," sang Riku. He swam close to Sora so he could reach out and stroke his fingertips up the top half of the stalk.  
  


"What's that supposed to mean," sang Sora in flat notes. Anything else he wanted to express was forgotten when his member was touched. An aching pleasure traveled from the tip of his appendage down into his tail, leaving him dazed. His newfound cock began to creep around Riku's body, circling him in a deliberate way.  
  


"I think it likes me," sang Riku playfully. He found the confused yet piqued expression on Sora's face to be so attractive. His chosen really didn't know anything about his own body at all. He longed to be the one to show him everything. To be who his human looked to for guidance and intimacy.  
  


"I'm sorry, I don't know how to control it," began Sora.  
  


The rest of what he was going to say was silenced by Riku's fingers on his lips. There was a pleading expression on the prince's face, and Sora knew that whatever was going to happen next was going to be something genuine and heartfelt, and he felt a tense excitement rising in anticipation of it.  
  


Riku pressed a soft kiss to Sora's mouth, and then he floated back, but not far enough to break contact with Sora's tendril. He turned his body in a lazy circle, letting his scales and skin brush over every inch of his mate's cock in an erotic dance. The prince vibrated with a quiet, almost shy song of an intense, deep love that he would give up his world for.  
  


They had been together so many times before, but this was the first that Sora felt Riku's vulnerability instead of his ego. It was no secret that the fragileness existed, but to actually have it displayed before him in such a show of trust had his mouth slack with disbelief.  
  


This Riku who was so open, this Riku who could so easily be hurt. Sora had been trying to reach that person for so long. There was so much he wanted to say to him, and now that the moment was here, it was all he could do but be enthralled by him.  
  


The prince used his claws to slice through the thin membrane that held the scales down over his most intimate area. He lifted the loose pieces up, revealing the puckered entrance to his channel. Then he sang one, single note that made every last vestige of hesitation and control completely vanish from Sora's mind:  
  


" _Please._ "  
  


Everything that happened afterwards was purely instinctual, and Sora would never know if he responded to Riku as a mer or as a human in a mer's body. His member ceased to become an alien thing, it was suddenly a part of him that he knew how to control and right now he wanted nothing more than to use it to make his mate say nothing but sweet things for the rest of his life. It surged towards that opening with single-minded intent, pushing past initial resistance before diving down into his tail. The mer's voice pitched with pleasure and the sound alone satisfied every resentment ever felt towards him.  
  


Sora swam around the prince's body to unravel his member from where it had looped around the other's tail and held his lover close. Every inch of him entered until they were flush against each together. His gills flared open, and he could feel water rushing through them as Riku's body contracted around his cock and milked the water back out. The greedy desperation of it made him feel masculine and powerful, and he unconsciously spread his dorsal fins outwards in display of his prowess.  
  


The pleasure was absolute; the only difference was that he controlled when it began and when it ended. Sora realized that Riku must have felt that way every time he dominated him. Now that the roles were reversed, so many emotions went into every gush of semen that he pumped into his mate's tail. He wanted to cherish him, he wanted to subdue him, he wanted to protect him, he wanted to punish him. All his feelings about their relationship poured forth in a cloud of cum that filled the mer to the brim and engorged his tail.  
  


Sora didn't stop until he felt the catharsis of his emotions and had his fill of his own pleasure. He didn't know how long that took, only that Riku was completely passed out by the end. He carefully rested the prince on the sandy floor and returned his member to its waiting place in his own tail. Then he embraced his mate and silently thanked him for giving him this moment.  
  


Even though Riku never sang a word, Sora had heard his pleading loud and clear: _Pick me. Please._  
  


No one had ever wanted him that way. No one. Kairi had wanted him for a moment, but Riku wanted him for a lifetime. It was a humbling, beautiful thing.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


When Riku finally opened his eyes, he found himself wrapped up in Sora's tail. His face was against his mate's shoulder, and he could feel the other's fingers stroking the nape of his neck. It was odd but strangely titillating to feel something touching a bare place that had previously been covered with hair.  
  


"I heard what you wished from the Trident," sang Sora quietly.  
  


Riku could barely move his tail. He felt spent. The prince didn't so much as lift his head as he asked, "Did I make a mistake?"  
  


Sora was quiet a few moments before answering, "When you told the Trident, 'I want everyone to be safe,' you didn't just mean the atlantians and all our friends, did you. You wanted that for the orcas too. Why?"  
  


"Because they have families too," clicked the prince in a simple way.  
  


Sora gave a soft, wistful smile. "I bet the Trident sent them really far away. But they'll come back, won't they."  
  


"Yeah," answered Riku quietly.  
  


Every orca on their side of the sea had vanished. Even Vanitas was gone from where he was being held. The ocean was a large, vast place, but they would be fooling themselves if they thought that their enemies would just forget everything and move on.  
  


Another thought occurred to Sora, and he asked carefully, "Aren't you worried about becoming pregnant?"  
  


"I'll gladly carry your egg for you," clicked Riku without hesitation.  
  


Sora's cheeks purpled with that declaration. "You would do that?"  
  


"I would do anything for you," sang Riku. "But it will probably never happen. It's very hard for the seed to take with two male mers. The fact that it even happened at all with Ven is because you were human at the time. He might be all we ever have."  
  


"But Braig --" the moment that Sora started to sing, he realized how stupid he sounded. Of course Braig had lied to him in order to draw him away from Atlantica. He couldn't believe how foolish he had been to fall for it. "I'm so stupid. I should have just asked you about it."  
  


"You didn't want another egg, did you."  
  


Sora didn't answer. It felt cruel to say anything. They both knew that if another egg was laid, then he would have to stay in the ocean longer, and he still didn't want that.  
  


Riku's gills flared in a sigh. "I promise that from now on, I won't stop you from being who you are."  
  


A hopeful feeling bloomed within Sora. Was Riku saying what he thought he was saying? "And I promise that I'll trust you from now on. No more going behind your back."  
  


The prince smiled, feeling both happy and sad.  
  


All that was left was one last decision.  
  


{{-----------------------------------------------}}

  


  


Dawn painted the skies in vibrant golds and pinks. The water was calm at the surface world, and it lazily lapped at the shoreline in small waves. It was disturbed by a small pool of energy that whirled about fifteen feet from the breakers.  
  


The water broke as Sora calmly rose up from the depths. His hair instantly dried the moment he broke the surface, as did the rest of his body as he walked to the beach. He was wearing a simple white shirt, and as he approached the shoreline, it was revealed that he also had matching pants and his legs. Ventus was in his arms, dressed in the same exact way. His son was twisting with excitement, and as soon as they were on dry land, he was placed on the ground so he could try his new legs for the first time.  
  


Ventus wobbled at first, and he clung onto Sora's hands to keep from falling. However, the moment he took his first step, and then the second, he let go of his carrier and began to walk. He gave a shout of glee, and then he covered his mouth when he heard an air filled voice instead of a mer's song.  
  


Sora smiled with pride at his son's first steps. It was a bit late, considering that he looked to be around six years old, but that was alright.  
  


A splash made him turn to look behind him. Riku was emerging from the water, walking as if he was trying to keep his balance on top of a moving circus ball. Sora laughed as he reached out to help steady the poor guy before he fell.  
  


"It's like having two tails, and they don't want to listen to each other," complained Riku as he leaned heavily against the human. His voice was an attractive tenor, and Sora found himself longing to hear him speak again.  
  


"You just have to get used to it," answered Sora. He looked in Ventus's direction, and found that his son was running in the sand with his arms outstretched and yelling at the top of his lungs with childish glee. "Ven already has the hang of it."  
  


"He gets it from you," said Riku dryly. He looked down at his own body, and then over at Sora. The last time his chosen was human, it was hard to see what he had become in the darkness. Now it was obvious that he was an adult. The prince knew that it was his fault that he had stolen that time from him, but he didn't feel remorse. Every moment, both the good and the bad, had been amazing for him.  
  


Sora found Riku staring, and he asked tentatively, "You sure you want to do this?"  
  


Riku looked at Ven, and he answered resolutely, "Yes. I don't want to be the kind of father who is only there from afar. I want Ven to know that I'm always there."  
  


"My mom and dad are in for one heck of a story," said Sora wistfully.  
  


They decided that Ventus was safest in the human world. Until the orcas gave up their ambitions, they had to protect the future king of Atlantica. It was also necessary that humans begin to understand that the mer existed. Their worlds were growing closer and closer every day, and it was only a matter of time until they collided, just as it had for the two of them. It was Sora's hope that his father would know how to bridge that gap, after he got over the shock of what happened to his son.  
  


"Am I an ugly human?" asked Riku.  
  


Sora made a sound that was halfway through a laugh and a snort. No matter what form they were in, Riku was always Riku. With all of his vanity and stubbornness, his love and desperate need to connect, it was all the same. He made a show of eying the prince's body, which was still a perfect porcelain white. His short, silver hair reflected the sunlight, and his eyes were as blue as the ocean. His body was unfairly chiseled, and when Sora looked down, he was dismayed to find that even his toes looked perfect. He was probably really hung too.  
  


"Eh. You'll do," was his final assessment.  
  


He patted Riku's head affectionally and then helped him to walk along the sand. Ventus happily ran ahead of them, enjoying the wonders of his new body and the amazement of being on the surface world. A rainbow appeared in the sky, and they looked back towards the ocean. Hundreds of mer had broken the surface, and they smacked the water with their tails and waved goodbye to the prince and his family. King Triton and his wife were there, as were all of Riku's sisters. Sebastian was standing on Flounder's head, looking as if he would cry if he could. The dolphins pealed loudly and blew air through their airholes. Terra and Aqua held on to each other as they waved, their smiles bright. Namine was nodding in encouragement. Lea stayed close to the shoreline, unable to speak but expressing so much to Ventus with just his green eyes.  
  


They waved back to them all, and Sora found that for all that it was, he was going to miss life in the ocean.  
  


_Kairi,_  
  


_It's been a while since I last thought of you. I hope that you find the same thing that I did. There's a kind of love out there that changes you for the better. It's not always fun, and takes a lot of work and time. You have to sacrifice so much. You can't just leave it behind and start over with someone else, not without losing a piece of yourself. If you can stick with it though, you get strong in ways you never knew you could. All you need is faith and trust in each other. I just hope that you don't make my mistake and have a kid first. Not that I regret him, I just wish that I had my life together so I could give him the best of his. But I think it's going to be alright._  
  


Riku was starting to walk better, although he had to look down at the ground constantly to make sure one foot was going in front of the other. Sora smiled at him. "So what's a chosen ceremony like?" he asked.  
  


This question surprised Riku enough that he stumbled. He looked at Sora askance. "Why are you asking?"  
  


"Just curious," he answered evasively, but still smiling.  
  


Sora would give him a little more time to prove that he was a better mer. He had learned to be patient and wait for good things. Riku had a lot of giving to do to make up for the taking that he had done, but he was already forgiven because he was loved.  
  


Even if the prince didn't realize it, Sora couldn't help falling for the way he loved their son, the way he steadfastly raised him above everything else no matter how ugly he became or how others felt about him, and the way he continued to stay by his side when he could have picked an easier life with someone else. It made him want to give the prince another chance and see how they could grow together.  
  


When he was done testing Riku in the human world, Sora would grant him his greatest wish, and choose him. After all, there was no higher form of love's expression, than to chose forever.  
  


  
  
  
**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Author's Note**
> 
> Can you believe that it's been ten years since I started this fanfiction? I stopped writing it halfway because I went through a lot of life changes that made me forget this story. Then Kingdom Hearts 3 came out, and I was watching a lot of Paternity Court, and suddenly the inspiration for this story came back.  
>   
>    
> Writing this last half the story was a pretty solitary experience. I realize that in the time that passed, a lot of my original readers are gone. They are obviously a lot older, and some might even have kids of their own. Maybe in the traditional way with marriage before children, and probably some in the not so traditional fashion. But a family is a family, no matter what it looks like or how it moves. If those people ever find this story again, I hope that your lives have gone well and that you still find some enjoyment in my silly fanfictions.  
>   
>    
> I originally wrote this because I wanted to tackle some difficult things in fanfiction, including erotic relationships, MPREG and the kind of loves that come from a difficult place. I think that finishing this story ten years after I first started it helped to shape the shifting perspective in this fic. I really do wonder if the first half of this fic reflects the immaturity of the couple and probably my own immaturity as a person, and how that changed in the last half when I wrote it as a much older adult.  
>   
>    
> Not that I will ever stop writing erotic stories! The next one will probably be the worse one yet, if I ever get around to writing it. Thank you for reading Unfathomable, I hope that you enjoyed it!


End file.
